


A Thread Of Threads

by lance_alt



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders Being an Idiot, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders In Love, Dorks in Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Good Deceit Sanders, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-03-13 17:47:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18945832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lance_alt/pseuds/lance_alt
Summary: Deceit wasn't exactly in denial about anything, they'd fully admitted that they had… certain feelings. About certain things. And potentially about certain sides. One side in particular.Roman blinked himself out of his little creative trance, looking up to see what had made noise. Who had dared disturb him while he was writing? "Oh, hi Deceit." And suddenly, he wasn't so upset about being disturbed.●IMPORTANT:THIS STORY WON'T BE CONTINUED AND THE LINKS I PUT PROBABLY DON'T WORK ANYMORE CAUSE THEY DELETED THEM●(i can't be the only one who is still recovering for this, am i?)





	1. Why Don't You Do Right?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tearxofink](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tearxofink/gifts).
  * Inspired by [A Thread Of Threads](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/484720) by @liesandolls, @princexofsong. 



> this is a roleplay story created by the great @liesandolls and @princexofsong on twitter!! go check them out, they deserve all the love! ALL CREDIT TO THEM BECAUSE I ONLY PUT IT ALL TOGETHER HERE
> 
>  
> 
> ●IMPORTANT:  
> THIS STORY WON'T BE CONTINUED AND THE LINKS I PUT PROBABLY DON'T WORK ANYMORE CAUSE THEY DELETED THEM●  
> (i can't be the only one who is still recovering for this, am i?)

Deceit wasn't exactly in denial about anything, they'd fully admitted that they had… certain feelings. About certain things. And potentially about certain sides. One side in particular.  
  
But they also weren't shouting it from the rooftops, or even giving any hints of their feelings. Because it was Roman, and Roman was… the hero and Deceit was the villain, to put it simply. But that wasn't going to stop Deceit from spending as much time with Roman as possible, messing with him and just generally being terrible.  
  
Because that's how you treat having a crush, right? You just make fun of them constantly and call them an idiot. Duh.  
  
So, Deceit was currently searching around the house for Roman with a chessboard, because no one else was around to play chess- or at least, that's what the excuse they were going to go with would be. They found him in the living room, and knocked on the side of the wall to announce their presence, giving him a trademarked Deceit Smirk.  
  
Roman blinked himself out of his little creative trance, looking up to see what had made noise. Who had dared disturb him while he was writing? "Oh, hi Deceit." And suddenly, he wasn't so upset about being disturbed.  
  
For no particular reason, of course. But for that same non-reason, he'd also decided to shut the notebook he'd been writing in and set it aside. "What are you up to today?" Roman was asking out of friendly curiosity, of course. Not because he was hoping they had stopped by to see him specifically, of course.  
  
"I hope I didn't disturb you," Deceit had very obviously intended to disturb him. "I've been wandering around to look for someone to play chess with, they all seem to be busy." They looked away from Roman to examine their nails before looking back at him casually.  
  
"I suppose I could settle for you. I was hoping for someone with slightly more… skill." That smirk stayed throughout their words, and they paused for a second before stepping forward. "I'm joking, of course." Their tone really made it sound like they hadn't been joking.  
  
"Well, obviously, because I'm _amazing_ at chess," Roman said with a smile, a definite contrast to Deceit's smirk. Of course they had been joking, they'd never doubt Roman's brilliant chess skills.  
  
"But I am certainly not busy, so I'm prepared to be awed by my chess-playing abilities." As if to prove his point, he shoved the notebook further away from him. Totally hadn't been working on something. "I hope you're ready to lose."  
  
Deceit raised an eyebrow as they walked forward, setting the chessboard on the coffee table and contouring a chair across from Roman with a casual wave of their hand. "I can't say that I am, I'm not exactly used to losing. Perhaps you could teach me a lesson."  
  
Deceit had very much said those words specifically in that smooth tone for a reason, but they brushed passed it just as quickly as they'd said it, waving their hand again to set up the chess board instantly. "But I highly doubt it."  
  
"We'll just have to see then, won't we?" Roman mused, already studying the chess board. For the record, he had noticed Deceit's tone, but he didn't want to comment on it. It probably hadn't meant anything anyway and it most likely hadn't even been intentional.  
  
No need to make a fool of himself unnecessarily. After a moment of silence, Roman looked back up at Deceit. "You know what? Because I'm so gracious, you can go first. You'll need every advantage you can get," he said with a wink. This was going to be fun.  
  
Deceit rolled their eyes, moving a pawn across the board with a dramatic flourish. They leaned forward, placing their hand on their chin and staring at Roman.  
  
They hadn't worn their gloves today, their long sleeved shirt was rolled up to their elbows, like they were daring Roman to say something about the scales. "Your turn. Some of the biggest mistakes can be made within the first three moves, so… take your time." They were definitely trying to make him nervous at this point.  
  
It was too bad for Deceit that Roman nEveR got nervous. After a mere two seconds of contemplation, he too moved one of his pawns. Why had he picked that particular one? No reason at all.  
  
He hadn't really believed Deceit when they'd said that the first three moves were the most important. After all, wasn't it the last few moves that won you the game? Deceit was clearly delusional. But they did have very nice scales. Roman may have wanted to touch them, but he refrained. His self-control was unparalleled.  
  
Such self control, very admirable, wow. At least, that was what Deceit would've said if they knew what Roman was thinking. Instead, they shifted a little at the feeling of Roman's eyes on them, taking a minute before making another move.  
  
"So. What might you be up to? Or, what were you up to before I so rudely interrupted?" They not-so-sneakily glanced at the notebook Roman had been writing in.  
  
"Hm? Oh, that. I was feeling inspired and had a few ideas for future videos, so..." Roman gestured to the notebook, "That's what that is." He frowned back down at the chess board before moving another piece. "Speaking of doing things, what were the others up to?"  
  
Nailed that transition. "Must've been pretty important if they didn't want to play chess with you. I didn't think Logan was even capable of turning down a chance to beat someone in a chess match." Roman looked curiously at Deceit from across the table and rested his head on his hand.  
  
"Bold of you to assume Logan would ever willingly spend time with me," Deceit responded with a sour look. They hadn't exactly… asked him, but they knew that was the truth anyway. "What sort of video ideas?"  
  
Not a smooth transition back to the topic they were interested in, but they didn't really care. "Anything that might require the participation of… oh, I don't know, a certain snake?" Was that a wink? No, it most certainly was not. Deceit _definitely_ didn't wink.  
  
And Roman _definitely_ didn't blush. That wasn't a thing he did. His face was in no way red. Clearly. Winks weren't his undoing. At all.  
  
"They aren't exactly finalized yet, so I'm afraid I can't tell you. It would ruin the surprise," he said with a smirk, hoping he didn't look as embarrassed as he felt. "I will neither confirm nor deny the involvement of certain snake people. Butifeverythingworksoutyoushouldbeinmorevideosverysoon." Well, Roman probably shouldn't have said all that, but it was fiiine he trusted Deceit to keep the secret.  
  
Roman was definitely blushing, and Deceit was feeling quite smug about that, also, Roman wanted Deceit to be in more videos¿? Well, that made them feel an emotion somewhat akin to happy. "I must say, I'm flattered. I'll be sure to keep that secret." They definitely wouldn't.  
  
"I thought you would," Roman said with a self-satisfied grin. He was quite clearly a _fantastic_ judge of character. But then the silence after his words dragged on for just a bit too long, and during it, he might have been staring unabashedly at Deceit.  
  
In his defense, they had very pretty scales. And a very pretty face. That was beside the point though, so Roman quickly turned his gaze back to the game. "Uh, it's your turn. By the way." Oh no he might have just made it awkward- Why the sudden awkwardness? Of all times, why now?  
  
Deceit smirked, making another move and leaning further forward than they needed to, their arm blocking the board for just a second as they moved far too close to Roman's face than they needed to. When they pulled away- did they- move one of the chess pieces? No. Definitely not.  
  
As if Roman would have noticed anything Deceit did when they were right. There. And he definitely wasn't blushing again.  
  
Roman didn't trust himself to form a coherent sentence, so he just looked away from Deceit and their damning smirk as he moved one of the pieces in a direction. He may have been distracted. That piece may not have even been allowed to move there- But that was fiNE everything was fiNE. Roman really didn't appreciate being this flustered.  
  
Oh, this was so fun. Roman was making things way too easy. Deceit moved two pieces on their next turn, looking Roman directly in the eyes as they did so. This time when they leaned forward, they didn't move away before speaking. "It's your move."  
  
"I, um, yeah." Roman swallowed hard, ducking his head. This was going terribly. He couldn't even think properly, not while he knew Deceit was staring at him. Hastily, Roman decided to just move a piece, any piece, as quickly as possible. With that, he leaned back into the sofa.  
  
Dee looked down at the board and moved their bishop. "Hm. Would you look at that? Check." They examined the board for a couple more seconds, looking for ways Roman could move. "Actually, if I'm not terribly mistaken, that would be a checkmate. Imagine that. And so quickly, too."  
  
"Wait- I- what? How did you do that?" Roman stared at the board, eyes wide. Deceit had just... won? Was it even possible for someone to win so quickly? Apparently, it was. Because if it wasn't, that would imply that Deceit had cheated and they would _never_ do that.  
  
Of course, Deceit would never cheat at chess. Duh. "The question you should be asking is, 'why am I so horrible at chess, Deceit?'," they said smugly, examining their nails in that petty way. "And to that I would answer, 'because you're Roman'."  
  
"That wasn't very nice," Roman huffed, crossing his arms. "And I'm not horrible at chess. I was just... unlucky this time. I demand a rematch." Translation: he had been oh-so distracted by Deceit and didn't want to admit that they might be better than him. At anything.  
  
"Is if possible to bed 'unlucky' at chess? I was under the impression that it was a game of skill, not chance." They rested their chin on their hands as they spoke. "But I suppose I have time for a rematch, if you absolutely _have_ to prove you're better than me."  
  
"Yes!" Roman cried, raising his arms in victory. With a quick wave of his hand, the pieces reset. "And for the record, yes, you can be unlucky at chess." Just don't ask him how, because that would involve explaining why, exactly, he'd been unlucky. "Okay, you go first again."  
  
Of course Deceit was going to ask how one could be unlucky at chess, because they really weren't aware of a situation where someone would be unlucky. "How so?" They asked, moving the same pawn they'd moved first in the last game.  
  
Trying something new, Roman moved an entirely different pawn than he had last time. "Hm... you know. Distractions. Those cause bad luck. And stuff." Vague answer, but hopefully it would do. He didn't really want to purposefully embarrass himself.  
  
Deceit smirked at him, taking their turn quickly. Maybe this time, they'd let Roman win and have a little ego trip. They would never admit it, but it was kind of cute in that incredibly annoying way, when he'd get all smug like that. "And what exactly were you distracted by?"  
  
"Oh, nothing in particular. Just general distraction." Maybe lying to literal embodiment of deceit wasn't the best idea, but Roman wasn't exactly thinking straight in that moment. He moved another piece forward, thankful he hadn't been distracted again. At least, bit yet.  
  
Deceit involuntarily hissed, their usual instinctive reaction to someone lying to their face, before looking up at Roman. "Hmm..." They grabbed Roman's wrist right as it began to move away from the piece.  
  
"My bishop could get to your queen and have nothing to stop it if you leave it open like that. Move it here." They directed Roman's wrist one square back diagonally. "Also, lying to me wasn't exactly your most… creative idea." They said it casually, like it really wasn't a big deal, and they didn't care about the 'general distraction'.  
  
Apparently, any form of physical contact from Deceit caused Roman's heart to try and escape his chest. Not ideal. But at least it brought him closer to winning, so Roman wasn't going to complain too much. Besides, their skin felt wonderfully cool on his.  
  
He let out a small little shiver, which, hopefully, Deceit hadn't noticed. "I'm sorry I lied," he said quietly. It wasn't often that he genuinely apologized for something, so Deceit should appreciate it while it happened.  
  
Changing the topic quickly out of the uncomfortable zone, Roman continued, "But... why are you helping me?" It was so out of character that even Roman was suspicious.  
  
"Apology accepted." They still hadn't let go of Roman's hand. "And I can't always be predictable, can I? I have to keep you on your toes."  
  
Deceit stared down at Roman's hand for a second, moving their thumb across his warm skin before letting go of him, moving away from something they knew they couldn't have. Teasing and flirting were one thing, but Deceit couldn't pretend like Roman was actually interested, and even if he was- that he'd throw away his entire reputation for someone like Deceit.  
  
Wait no come back- Roman hadn't ever wanted Deceit to move their hand away, but of course they had. Why would Deceit have wanted to hold onto him for any longer than they had to? He shouldn't have been so disappointed when they'd moved. "Right. Anyway, it's your turn now."  
  
"Hm?" Now Deceit was the one who'd gotten distracted, staring down at the chessboard without really seeing it, instead thinking about the feeling of Roman's skin, it was so soft, warm, and they wanted very much to touch him again, to hold his hand for just a second.  
  
"Oh. It is, isn't it?" They took their turn, not paying quite as much attention to what they moved where this time, but still making sure it wouldn't give Roman any openings to win. At least, not yet.  
  
Roman decided to concentrate on the game for now. If he didn't, he'd start staring at Deceit again, and he didn't really want a repeat of the last game. After a moment of thought, he picked up his rook and moved it to a decidedly safe position.  
  
Roman seriously doubted he could handle Deceit touching him again without spontaneously combusting, so hopefully he hadn't done anything wrong this time.  
  
Deceit didn't touch him again, although he did stare at Roman's hand, watching it move confidently across the board. They stayed quiet as they took their turn, and then looked up at Roman. "You have something on your cheek." He didn't. "It looks like a pen mark."  
  
It did not. Because it didn't exist. "Can you lean forward a little? I can get it for you." They gave him an innocent look, no ulterior motive whatsoever.  
  
Well, if Deceit was going to _offer_ to touch him again, why would he refuse? The potential combustion was irrelevant; it was a valiant way to go after all. You know, the noble death by hot snake-person.  
  
"Oh, sure. Thanks," he said, leaning forward in a perfectly calm manner. Roman tried his very best to look innocent as well, and not like his heart was running rampant in his chest. With any luck, he also wouldn't be blushing. Not very likely, but he could dream.  
  
"Of course." Deceit leaned forward, extending their hand and rubbing their thumb gently across Roman's cheek. It was warmer than his hand had been, and smoother. A vague thought about asking about his skincare routine popped into their head.  
  
They made a humming noise, really committing themself to the role of getting that nonexistent pen smudge off, bringing their other hand to Roman's jaw to angle his head closer to Deceit.  
  
Roman may not have literally imploded, but his face certainly felt like it was about to. Surely it was actually on fire. There was no other reason for this heat in his face.  
  
Looking right into Deceit's eyes was also not helping the burning sensation, but at the same time, Roman didn't want to change any part of this moment. So he held perfectly still, hardly breathing for the fear that the slightest movement would cause Deceit to lean back again.  
  
"Your skin is so warm," Dee muttered, finally voicing the thought in their head. "I'm not used to that." They stopped moving their hands across Roman's face, keeping them still and staring at him for a moment. "I think I got it off."  
  
They belatedly realized they'd been trying to get rid of the invisible ink smudge. And should probably let go of Roman now.  
  
Without even thinking, Roman put his hand on top of Deceit's to keep them from moving it. "Are you sure? I can't be walking around with an unsightly smudge on my face. Check again." He certainly didn't have any other reason for keeping Deceit's hand on his face.  
  
It was only there to make sure he really did look fabulous. Roman held Deceit's hand in his, pulling it slightly away from his face. "Is it still there?" He asked, peering directly into their eyes.  
  
Deceit's eyes widened for a second, not expecting that. Was he making fun of Deceit? Could he see through the whole act and now he was the one teasing them? He was hiding something, Deceit could tell that much.  
  
They automatically assumed he was hiding the fact that he was making fun of Deceit, because the only other option would be that Roman wanted Deceit to keep their hands there, and that didn't add up? "It's gone," Deceit said shortly, pulling their hands away and sitting back in their chair.  
  
Roman frowned at the sudden change in Deceit's tone. Had he done something wrong without realizing it? He probably had. Well, it had been nice while it lasted, at least. Roman rubbed subconsciously at the place where Deceit's hand had been, saying a quiet, "Thanks."  
  
He glanced down at the chess board again, figuring he should probably move now. Picking a piece at random, he slid it in a direction that hopefully wouldn't cause him to lose.  
  
Deceit gave Roman a smile that didn't even qualify as a smile, they really just tilted their lips up while giving him a death glare. They didn't appreciate being made fun of and led on, that was what they did to other people, other people didn't do that to them.  
  
They unceremoniously took Roman's knight on their next turn, before looking back up at Roman. "You know, I can tell you're hiding something. If you hate me, you can just say it." Their voice was much more genuine now, and very, very bitter.  
  
Ohhh. That must have been why Deceit had seemed so upset with him. For some reason, they'd thought Roman hated them. Obviously, that couldn't have been further from the truth. "I _don't_ hate you though. That's-" He paused, shaking his head. "I wouldn't be hiding that.  
  
You'd know if I hated you." Roman took one of Deceit's pawns on his next turn to avenge his fallen knight. Not exactly an equal trade, but definitely better than nothing.  
  
"Well. Then what?" Did he just think it was funny to make fun of Deceit's feelings for him? That couldn't be right, Roman was sensitive, and despite his pride, he was kind.  
  
Deceit took their next turn, choosing to put their rook in harm's way to give themself an opening to take Roman's queen. "What are you hiding from me?" The possibility that Roman might share Deceit's feelings didn't even occur to them.  
  
And now Roman was faced with a terrible choice. Actually tell Deceit how he felt, or lie to them yet again and make them more upset. He stayed silent while he took his turn, capturing one of Deceit's rooks that was literally one space away from his bishop.  
  
Why Deceit had done that, Roman didn't know, but he certainly wasn't upset by it. At that point, he had decided to avoid the question without actually lying. Much better than actually making a decision that could leave him vulnerable.  
  
"I thought you would have been able to figure it out by now. I'm not exactly good at hiding things, and you're not exactly naive," he said, not quite meeting Deceit's eyes.  
  
Deceit moved their knight to take Roman's queen now that the space was clear, snatching it off the board. "Evidently, I haven't figured it out. Care to clue me in, or are you going to make me guess. I might not be naive, but I can't exactly read minds."  
  
Admitting that he liked Deceit would mean putting aside his pride and setting himself up to be made fun of, and there was no way Roman was doing that. "Guessing's more interesting, isn't it?" he said somewhat absently, frowning at the spot where his queen had been.  
  
He moved one of his pawns, what would hopefully be a safe move. Despite the loss of his queen, Roman still held onto the hope that he could win.  
  
Dee pursed their lips, taking one of Roman's pawns. "Ah yes, so fun to guess how you feel about me, to constantly wonder if everyone here hates me." This just in: Deceit, who loves playing with people's emotions, cannot stand two seconds of someone playing with theirs.  
  
"Well, you know not _everyone_ hates you, because I don't. And if I don't hate you, take a wild guess as to how I feel instead." The very idea of Deceit figuring out that Roman liked them set his face aflame, so he continued looking down and took one of their pawns. Improvement.  
  
"Check," Deceit said, moving a bishop into the path of Roman's king. "I suppose my wild guess would be that you're hopelessly in love with me, struggling to accept it and imagining us becoming star-crossed lovers who were never meant to be together."  
  
And to Deceit, that was a very wild guess. So unlikely that they stated all that so casually. "And if that were true, of course I'd be flattered, and tease you for the foreseeable future." They would definitely do that, because making Roman suffer was easier than saying they reciprocated the feelings.  
  
"Well then, your wild guess would be right," Roman muttered, not at all paying attention to what he said, trying to figure out how to best not lose. And then, in a spilt second of sudden awareness, he clapped his hand over his mouth.  
  
"I- that's not what I meant- I- like, it could be right, but it's not. So." Depsite his attempts to save face, he knew nothing he could say at that point would save him from that little slip up. So, blushing furiously, Roman quickly moved his king out of the way of Deceit's bishop, evading capture for now.  
  
For a half a second, a little bit of hope flickered across Deceit's face, and they quickly covered it up. Roman has so quickly corrected himself.  
  
They weren't sure if it was because he was ashamed of having a crush, or he just didn't want to admit it because Dee had said they'd make fun of him. They took their turn, not really paying attention. "Of course it's not right. It's not like you'd want to have feelings for me, would you?" Deceit asked bitterly. "You probably wish you didn't, because who would want to love someone you only know as a liar?  
  
"That's not what I meant either!" This was a lot more difficult than Roman had thought it would be, and he hated seeing Deceit this upset. He sighed, moving his remaining knight. While he didn't particularly want to do this, he wanted to see Deceit upset even less.  
  
"Okay. Fine. If you're going to be so stupid about this, let me tell you. I like you. And I didn't want to tell you because I'm terrible at dealing with my feelings and figured you'd make fun of me." Well, there goes his pride.  
  
Deceit stayed quiet while Roman spoke, trying to figure out what to say. They could have what they wanted. It would be so easy, to just admit their feelings. But they couldn't do it, the longer they stared at Roman, the more scared they got.  
  
Maybe it was fear of being left, or rejected, they didn't know. No, no, no, they weren't going to do it. They covered up the long silence with a laugh. It was strained, they avoided Roman's eyes. "You know me too well." They made another move, cornering Roman's king again. "Of course I'll make fun of you. Check."  
  
Roman couldn't say that he hadn't expected this. Did it break his heart a tiny bit? No, of course not. It broke his heart a lot. Not saying a word, he stared down at the chess board, realizing he didn't really care all that much about winning anymore.  
  
He couldn't exactly tell Deceit that because they'd only make fun of him even more, so he just moved his king one space forward so they could checkmate him next turn. No need to draw this out any longer.  
  
Deceit frowned a little, not wanting this to end so soon, but maybe it was for the better.  
  
They'd officially ruined any sort of chance at a relationship-romantic or otherwise- with Roman because they were too scared of not being good enough, and had instead decided to be an asshole. Of course they weren't good enough, Roman deserved someone who could be honest, someone who had enough self respect to be upfront about their feelings, and that wasn't Deceit.  
  
They didn't bother moving to take their turn, simply reached out and knocked the King over with one finger, watching it roll back and forth before stilling. "Checkmate," they said belatedly.  
  
"Looks like I'm not so good at chess after all," Roman said, staring forlornly at the fallen king. "Well, this was fun." He stood up and tried to force a smile, but he could tell it didn't even come close to passing as one. "I guess I'll see you around."  
  
Deceit gave Roman a fake smile right back, although theirs was a lot more convincing. Not to brag, but they were _really_ good at pretending they didn't have emotions. "I'll see you around, Roman." Their voice was a lot softer and quieter than they'd meant it to be.  
  
Maybe Deceit felt bad about how they'd reacted? That's what quiet voices usually meant, right? No, that didn't make sense. He'd probably heard wrong. After all, they'd smiled too. Roman should probably stop overthinking and just leave.  
  
Overthinking was supposed to be Virgil's job anyway. "Bye then," he said with a small wave as he picked up his notebook and walked out of the room.


	2. Origin Of Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An important part of denying emotions is to make the person you're denying your emotions about suffer as much as you are. Which is why they inverted all the colors in Roman's room. There is no red, only army green. They left him a note though. It says 'love you'
> 
> Hahaha hilarious prank this is laughter, not crying. Duh. Roman totally isn't upset about the note.

An important part of denying emotions is to make the person you're denying your emotions about suffer as much as you are. Which is why they inverted all the colors in Roman's room. There is no red, only army green. They left him a note though. It says 'love you'  
  
Hahaha hilarious prank this is laughter, not crying. Duh. Roman totally isn't upset about the note.  
  
They're gonna pop into the doorway of Roman's room- because they haven't made him suffer enough yet, apparently "I thought you might appreciate some redecorating".  
  
Oop, time to pretend he totally hadn't been upset- "Can't say that I did". Thankfully, he has magic and can just snap his fingers and make the red come back. Which he does. Because really, who even likes green?  
  
Aww, sad frown. Well, they're gonna invite themself into Roman's room and sit on the edge of the bed- and they definitely purposefully brushed against Roman's side when they walked by "Really? A shame. And here I was trying to be nice".  
  
He's r e a l l y trying not to react to that annoying touching thing that Deceit did, and apparently the only way he can do that is ignoring literally _everything_ they say and do. Time to change the topic, "What do you want, and why are you here?"  
  
"I'm here to say hi. You're the only one who tolerates my presence, so congratulations! You get free Deceit time". Oop, there's a smirk "Isn't that what you've _always_ wanted?"  
  
Well, yes, but... "No. Not really. Besides, I wouldn't exactly say I tolerate your presance. It's more like I'm forced to endure spending time with you because I'm too nice not to".  
  
Little eyebrow raise "Of course. And you totally hate me. Obviously. You know, last time we talked, we had a whole discussion about how much you hated me, didn't we?"  
  
This whole 'not reacting' thing was really not going to plan, because now Roman just knew he was blushing and that was Not Good so he decided, valiantly, to say nothing.  
  
They were gonna just... reach forward and poke his arm " _Didn't_ we?"  
  
He's still refusing to even look at Deceit and is just... crossing his arms angstily "Sure. Definitely."  
  
Cue some halfhearted sarcastic applause "Good job. So… what your plans for the day? Other than glaring at your wall like it's purposefully making your life hell?"  
  
"Well, it was going to be avoiding you, but it seems that's already not working out." Annoyed huff  
  
"A pity. Your life must be soooo difficult." They jumped up, taking Roman's arm and pulling him out his bedroom door with no warning "Come on. We're going out. It'll be fun."  
  
"You know, if you say it's fun, I really don't think it will be". He's letting himself be dragged along for now because even though he wouldn't dream of telling anyone, he still doesn't entirely mind Deceit's company. Even if they decide to be an asshole.  
  
"Aww, c'mon, don't you trust me?" Oh look, they're smirking again. And their hand has moved down to Roman's wrist. Aaaaaalmost holding his hand. Not quite. Almost  
  
"As you said last time we spoke, you're literally called Deceit. Why would I trust you?" He may be bitter at the almost hand holding. and you know. Literally everything else that's been happening.  
  
"Mmm… because, you know, snakes… have a reputation for being trustworthy." A True Fact "Also, there's a fair down the road this week, and I refuse to go alone to get my bacon wrapped turkey leg."  
  
"Bacon wrapped... turkey leg... that sounds terrible. But fine. Fairs aren't terrible, even if your food choices are."  
  
"You sound terrible, but I'd still- " Blink blink. Awkward pause. They were definitely not just about to make a sex joke, whaaat "Ummm- Anyway. Like I said, it'll be fun."  
  
Blink blink. Had they just been about to say what Roman thought they'd been about to say? Probably not, "Alright, maybe it will be."  
  
"I can't believe you're doubting me like this." Oops, their hand has slipped down and now they're Actually holding Roman's hand. And they're walking next to him instead of pulling him outside and down the street  
  
This is So Good and now their hand shouldn't ever move. They just have to keep walking down the street together for eternity and now Deceit will never get their bacon wrapped turkey leg, sorry. "Well, I'll stop doubting you when this starts actually being fun."  
  
Deceit Will be getting that bacon wrapped turkey leg. And if there isn't a way to seductively eat it while staring at Roman, they will somehow make one. But also they aren't letting go of Roman's hand until they Physically Have To "Well. What can I do to make it fun?"  
  
Nothing you're doing great sweetie now just don't move your hand or Roman will fight you. "Mm... Maybe get to the fair first?"  
  
Deceit does not want to be fought or let go of his hand, so this works out well "But what about once we _get_ there? We could go on one of those giant spinning rides that basically defy physics, get powdered donuts…"  
  
"Yes." Is... that all? It seems so. Cue the vigorous nodding. "Also funnel cakes and cotton candy." Does he want a cavity-  
  
"Why, but of course, my prince. Whatever your heart desires." Well, that was only _slightly_ sarcastic, and there was a dramatic bow  
  
Aww Roman wasn't really sure if Deceit was being sarcastic or not but whatever that was sweet so now his heart's doing a small little Melt and he's smiling "Why, thank you."  
  
Dee is smiling, and kind of just staring at Roman now. Oops, they're in love. Their intricate plan to go on a fake date with Roman to prove that they'd be an awful couple has horribly backfired, oh no  
  
"Anyway, look, here's the fair. Proof that I'm not leading you to an abandoned lot to murder you and dump your body". If Roman was thinking that anyway  
  
"Should... I have been worried about that? Was that a pLaN you had at one point? Oh my God- " Should he actually panic? Or is Deceit being sarcastic- Roman definitely has a terrible sixth sarcasm sense  
  
"Maaaaybe. You never know what my motives are. I'm a mystery wrapped in an enigma rolled in a- are those _deep fried_ twinkies?? Technology really has gone too far."  
  
Cue a jaw drop "I want one- Come with me I'm buying one now- "  
  
And now Deceit is stumbling after Roman and trying very hard to keep holding onto his hand, which is hard, because Roman is cute and they're too busy staring at him "Maybe my plan was for you to die of sugar overdose all along- "  
  
"Well, your plan may just be a success." Yep, he totally just bought a deep fried twinkie, and no, he does not have any regrets "This is terrible, but in a good way. Here, you try."  
  
"I- Fiiiiine." They're just gonna reach over and bite it, because Roman was holding it and they just had to lean over a little bit "It's terrible."  
  
"I told you so." Yes, he's smug about being right about something being terrible. These are unprecedented levels of smugness for such a mundane thing, but it's Roman, after all. He's going to finish his terrible deep fried twinkie now.  
  
"Hmm. How can you such terrible taste, and such exquisite taste at the same time?" Yes, they are referring to Roman having a crush on them. And yes, they just licked their lips, and yes, it was very exaggerated- look at that forked tongue- they want him to look at it  
  
Well, it was kind of hard not to look at, so he did. now Roman's just kinda staring at Deceit's tongue, but oop, that disappeared and now he's stuck staring at their lips. And now he's blushing at the staring, the tongue, and the comment. It's not going well for his pride.  
  
"What? Cat got your tongue? Or a snake, maybe?" Wink wink "You're staring." Hmm. Their hand is on Roman's thigh, isn't it- Dee, stop teasing him...  
  
"I- um". He'd almost forgotten about the whole awkward crush situation for a while there, but that was clearly no longer the case. Now he's just going to awkwardly slip his hand out of Deceit's and take a step away so they aren't touching. There. Now he can breathe. "Um. Sorry."  
  
So apparently boys who you painfully rejected don't like it when you flirt with them? Weird. well, Deceit was going to brush past it to get rid of the tension "So. Where to now? Corn maze?" Bad suggestion- Being stuck in a maze with Roman seemed like the literal worst idea  
  
Too bad for Deceit and their logic, Roman thought it was a great suggestion! Mazes are just mini adventures, except without dragons or the threat of death, so really, it's the best of both worlds. "Yes! I love mazes! Lead the way!" HoW can he go from so awkward to so excited-  
  
Oh no- "You know, on second thought- " Okay, well Roman was all excited and Deceit didn't want to squish their hopes "Um. Never mind. Let's go. To the corn maze"  
  
Very Happy Smiley Boi here is practically jumping up and down in excitement "To the corn maze!"  
  
Why was he so CuTE- UgH- "Mmkay. Calm down, you don't even know where it is. Don't want you getting lost on me."  
  
"Right, that's why you're leading the way. Duh." Apparently, Roman has discovered that you can both smile and roll your eyes at the same time, a feat only the greatest can master.  
  
"Well, you're gonna have to hold my hand again. Can't have you wandering off, the others would never forgive me. Or. Maybe they'd thank me". Then they did a frowny face, because that was meaner than they intended it to be "That was a joke."  
  
While Roman was inclined to believe them, Deceit couldn't be let off that easily. "Mhm. Sure." But. He did take their hand again. Just so he wouldn't get lost.  
  
"It waaaas!" The frowny face got even frownier "You know I love you, come on." Yu know, Dee should really stop casually saying that-  
  
Deeeefinitely. Because now Roman is exercising an impressive amount of self-control in not just yanking his hand away. Instead, he's just going to repeat himself. "Mhm. Sure."  
  
"I'm sensing a lot of internalized hostility, and really, I don't know why. But whatever, because we're at the corn maze now"  
  
Yessss corn maze adventure! with his crush! Roman may still be annoyed with Deceit, but this calls for excitement! "Come on let's goooo- " And yep, he's dragging them along again  
  
"Oh- Is this- It's a corn maze, why are you so- " You know what, let's not question it, because he's cute when he's excited and Deceit doesn't want to ruin that "Well, now that we made it here, I'm passing the baton to you. Lead the way. Try not to get us hopelessly lost."  
  
"Will do." Let's see... right, left, or straight? not straight, because he's not, and left is just boring. Right literally says it's right in the name, so they're going that way. This is his entire strategy, but don't worry. It's fiiiine.  
  
Well, if Roman only turns right, they're gonna be going in circles pretty soon, but whatever... Deceit is just gonna lace their and Roman's fingers together and kinda- stare at him because they're in love and they HaTE it  
  
Deceit may have been right, and Roman may have realized the flaw in his plan, so he went straight at one intersection, then left at the next. Hopefully, now they'll make it out. "Oh, after this, we should go get your turkey wrapped bacon leg- Wait, reverse that. Yep. That."  
  
"Hmm...? I've never heard of a bacon leg… " That wasn't sarcasm, they genuinely are kind of zoned out and only half listening to what Roman's saying  
  
"Well, now you have. Congratulations, your life is better." Sarcasm? Not sarcasm? Roman had no idea-  
  
"My life is already pretty good. I mean. I'm at a fair with you. That's pretty good. Was that... a genuine compliment? About Deceit having fun with Roman? No, it can't be  
  
Now he's just confused- What is happening- "Um. Thanks?" But okay what did they mean by that? Was it a friend thing or a romance thing? What... "Let's... just go this way... " No, he didn't almost walk into the corn because he forgot to pick a direction and was distracted  
  
"Mmkay. Hey, when you said- I mean- When you- Would you- " Aaaand, time for Deceit to shut their mouth because they were going to ask a Question, but then they got scared "Uh. Never mind- "  
  
"Well, you can't just say that because now I want to know and may or may not bug you until you tell me." He definitely will.  
  
"I- " Well, time to panic "When you said. you liked me. Did you mean it in a _dating_ way, or in a… 'I hate you and you're obnoxious as hell but you're attractive so I want to kiss you' way? I'm assuming it's the second option. Because I'm not. Exactly. Likable. As a person."  
  
"Oh. Um." He probably shouldn't lie, right? But the truth would mean admitting that he didn't think Deceit was an awful person and that was _haaard_... But he didn't want them to feel bad... "Boooooth?"  
  
Cue the confusion, since that wasn't technically a lie, so Deceit couldn't detect it, and hence assumed Roman was telling the truth "So… you hate me, but you want to date me." Theyre gonna almost walk into the corn because they're too busy trying to figure out what that means whoops  
  
That was actually accurate? He hadn't even meant for that to make so much sense, but it did. Technically, the first answer had been right, but then there's also the whole Deceit Being An Asshole About Feelings thing, so both was actually right? Wow, he's so good "Yes."  
  
Blink blink "Why- I don't. understand. Why would you want to be with someone if you hate them?" The confusion is increasing-  
  
"Because... " Shrug "Because." Listen, Roman doesn't know how that happened either-  
  
"So me being mean to you won't do anything to minimize either of our feelings for each other, then." It was gonna take them a long time to realize what they said. Wait for it, waaait- Aand. Yep. Their eyes widened and they just. Stopped walking and clamped a hand over their mouth  
  
It took Roman a few seconds to understand as well, but then he froze too. v e r y slow blink. "What did you say?" Don'tgetyourhopesupdon'tgetyourhopesup-  
  
Very wide-eyed stare at Roman "I- Nothing! I said nothing!" See, the thing about Dee is, they're really good at lying for other people. But when they have to lie for themself. They kinda just. Freeze  
  
"Yeah, well that 'nothing' could mean the world to me." He's crossing his arms and raising a judgemental eyebrow because hey, if you're judgemental, maybe you won't get your heart broken when you inevitably find out the literal embodiment of Deceit lied to you.  
  
"Uh. Well." Oops, catch Dee sinking into the corn, they will slowly vanish from sight, goodbye cruel world. They don't deal well with confrontation  
  
Whoops, guess Roman has to charge into the corn now too- And now he's attaching himself to Deceit again, grabbing onto their wrist. Cue another eyebrow raise "Are _you_ hiding something now?"  
  
"What? I- No! I didn't- I'm not- " Various noises of Discomfort as they attempt to wiggle away "I mean- Maybe! I had a lot of things! I'm Deceit! Why- Why do you even like me anyway? Can't you just- hate me like everyone else?" Avoiding the question 101  
  
Confusion? "Why do you want me to hate you? Is that a thing people want? To be hated? Wha- " More Confusion? "And why would I hate you? You aren't actually evil or anything, and you're, you know... " Vague gesture that hopefully explains that he thinks Deceit is a wonderful human  
  
"Because then- it would be easier! I don't like- feeling like this. It scares me. And it's. And I want." You. I want you, Roman- "I- I think about you all the time, about your laugh, and your stupid self righteous attitude. And I want to spend time with you. but I don't know how."  
  
"But then- why did you make fun of me? If you really felt like that, then why- " Oh. Roman felt his face fall and heart drop as he understood. This wasn't real. Deceit was _lying_ , they were still making fun of him. That's why none of this had made sense.  
  
Because it was all fake. And though he had even warned himself not to get his hopes up, Roman still felt an aching disappointment in his chest. For a moment, he'd believed it. Why had he been so stupid as to trust a side literally called Deceit?  
  
Shaking his head, he let go of their wrists and stepped back. "Stop it. Stop trying to convince me that you might actually care. I don't- " He let out a small, pained sound. "It hurts. Just... don't."  
  
"I'm not. I'm not making fun of you. I- I'm selfish, and I want everything. I wanted to be able to spend time with you, and know you cared about me, but I didn't want to have to admit my feelings. Because- feelings make me vulnerable. And that terrifies me, and- "  
  
" _God_ , Roman, even I wouldn't go this far for a joke. I've never claimed to be a good person, but I'm not cruel." They reached out, almost touching Roman's hand before pulling back again.  
  
"So then... you weren't lying. And you do... like me?" There goes Roman's perception of the world, flipping on its head again. Even if it would make sense for Deceit to lie about this, Roman didn't think they would.  
  
He was still in love with them, after all, and he believed the best of them. This whole admitting feelings thing made him feel endlessly uncomfortable and self-conscious, but maybe, just maybe, something could work out because of it. That was the hope Roman held onto as he waited for Deceit to truly confirm what they'd said.  
  
Deceit chewed on their lip. Say it- Say those stupid words, it's not that hard- They took a deep breath, looking down at the ground. "No." wAiT- That wasn't the word their brain had told their mouth to say. "I- I didn't- I- opposite." Please let that be a good enough explanation.  
  
For a second, Roman's heart stopped entirely. But then, he remembered that hello, this was Deceit, and they'd literally just said they were bad at admitting their feelings. He really hoped that that's what they'd meant. "Is that a yes then?" His face is simply glowing with hope.  
  
Deceit was quiet for a second, before nodding slowly, and then looking away from Roman again. This was all too much, too quickly, and they'd much rather go back to their relationship before any of this had started, because- now what? What were they supposed to do? A Scared Snek™️  
  
Roman lit up at the nod, before realizing, as he watched Deceit, that he had no idea where this was supposed to go now either. Somehow, even though he was a hopeless romantic, he'd been in a relationship before either.  
  
Seeing as the only people he could date would be one of the other sides, it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise. Why would he choose one of them when Deceit was around? Speaking of, he reached his hand over to cup their cheek. "Hey, look at me. We'll make this work."  
  
Oop- That hand on their cheek made them bLuSh- and make a small noise. This just in, Deceit is Veeery touch starved. "You want to?" The fact that someone was willing to put energy into any sort of relationship with Deceit was- new. But nice. One might even say it made them happy.  
  
Giving a slight smirk, Roman used the hand on Deceit's cheek to guide their face closer. After a moment of stillness, he placed a soft kiss on their lips. He's been wanting to do that for So Long, and it had finally happened and it was amazing. "Mm, yeah. I'd say that's a yes."  
  
Deceit made an embarrassing sound when Roman kissed them, and reached out as he pulled away, gripping the front of his shirt and leaning back in to kiss him with more force, causing them both to nearly fall in the corn before Deceit let go of him. "Um. Sorry." They weren't that sorry.  
  
"Why are you sorry? Am I a bad kisser?" Oh no, what if he was he a bad kisser? That would be _horrible_. Or, even worse, what if Deceit regretted admitting their feelings and kissing him in the first place? Now, that would be even worse.  
  
Deceit rolled their eyes, placing their hands on Roman's hips to keep him close. "Sorry for almost knocking you over. You're a fine kisser. Certainly trainable." Aaaand they're already back to teasing him with that obnoxious smirk.  
  
Roman made an offended spluttering sound at Deceit's words. "Just trainable?! Unacceptable. It seems I'm going have to train for the rest of the day. Or week. Or year. But plural. Also, if you smirk it's illegal and it means I'm required to kiss you again." Which he did.  
  
"Mmm- Well, a corn maze isn't the best place for that. You going to get us out of here or what?" Despite saying a corn maze isn't the ideal make out spot, Deceit kissed Roman again, bringing their other hand to his neck before pulling back. "I need my bacon wrapped turkey leg."  
  
"Right. That." Roman scrunched his nose up at the brand new mention of the bacon wrapped turkey leg, but he took Deceit's hand and made his way back to the actual path. He was going to get them out of here without cheating. "Um... Left," he decided after a moment's thought.  
  
"You sure about that? Think carefully about your decisions before you make them" Deceit responded ominously. They really had no idea which way to go, they were just messing with him, because they're annoying like that.  
  
AhH- What if Deceit was right and he should go right? No, scratch that. His decision was going to stay exactly the same for the sole purpose of annoying them. "Well, now that you mention it, we're definitely going left. Let's go get your wrapped thingy."  
  
"Now that I think about it, right is _definitely_ the way to go. Good choice." Hmm, reverse psychology. Are they purposefully trying to annoy the hell out of Roman? Oh, absolutely. Is it succeeding? Apparently not enough.  
  
Well, now he was just conflicted. "Do? You know? Which way? To? Go? Or?" Honestly, even while confused, Roman figured he was probably right, not Deceit. That made the most sense, because why wouldn't he be right? He usually was, after all.  
  
"You know what, we're just going to go left." Before they can try to convince him otherwise again, Roman's dragging Deceit down the left path, hoping that they'd get out soon so he could prove how right he was.  
  
Deceit laughed quietly, letting themself be pulled along. "You'd think years of me being like this, I would've thought you'd be used to it. Are you always going to be this gullible?" Next, Deceit should tell Roman that if he says 'orange' really slowly, it sounds like 'gullible'.  
  
Let's be honest, he'd definitely fall for that, even if he'd protest otherwise. "I'm not gullible! See, I didn't even fall for you trying to tell me I was wrong!" Probably the one and only thing he wouldn't believe-  
  
"Umm- Suuuure you didn't. You're never been gullible. Not even once. It's not like I've ever convinced you to do or say anything I want just by adding, 'wow, Roman, you look so nice today' to whatever I tell you to do. That's never happened." Except that it happened every day.  
  
Obviously it did, because when you appealed to Roman's ego (especially if you were Deceit) there was almost nothing he wouldn't do. "Well, that's true, but only because it's you you saying it. In case you hadn't noticed, no one else can persuade me so easily. Most of the time."  
  
"I'm taking that as a compliment. You'd think it'd be _harder_ for you to fall for the things I say, considering you know me as Deceit. Which implies that I'm lying." They swung their hands nonchalantly as they walked down a path Deceit was pretty sure they'd already been on.  
  
"You'd be right in that, then. It was supposed to be a compliment. You're a very complimentable person." Was that a word? No, probably not, but it fit. Roman figured that because he hadn't gone straight yet, going that way at the next intersection couldn't possibly fail him.  
  
"Complimentable. Well, thank you." They smiled to themself, adding 'complimentable' to their mental list of nice things Roman had said about them. "I think we need to veer right," they offered, and this time it was actually sincere.  
  
"Right it is, then." Look at him, sort of figuring out whether or not Deceit was being genuine. Roman had a 50/50 chance though, it was quite possible that he'd just guessed correctly this time.  
  
Well, either way, Dee was happy he'd listened to them then. Although it turned out Deceit had been wrong, because they got to a dead end. "Did I say right? I meant..... riiii... left." Oops. Oh well. They'd get out eventually. Probably.  
  
Roman sighed, turning back around. Had they even made halfway through the maze? Or would they just end up using the entrance as an exit? He wouldn't be surprised, especially considering how badly this was going.  
  
"Guess we'll try left. Which would be straight now because we already turned right so the original left is no longer left." He frowned in confusion at his own explanation. Had that even made sense?  
  
Dee nodded. "Let's do that, then. And if we really mess up, cheating is always a good option." Saying 'cheating is always a good option' to someone you just started dating wasn't the best idea. "By that I mean…cheating in getting out of the corn maze. Not in. any other context."  
  
"Cheating is never a good option. Unless you're losing. Or lost. In which case, it is a good option now which direction is the exit- " Roman is now spinning in a circle, trying to figure out which way they'd come from and which was was the way out. It wasn't a good strategy.  
  
"Well, if we just barrel through the corn in one random direction, we'll eventually get out. We might end up nowhere near the fair, but it'll be a fun adventure." Dee loved fun unplanned adventures. Especially when Roman was with them. Not that they'd say that.  
  
"Okay then... this way!" Roman decided, pulling Deceit after him into the great unknown of the corn stalks. He also loved unplanned adventures. And Dee. Unplanned adventures with Dee? The best.  
  
"Oh- " Well, Dee couldn't exactly respond to that with out getting corn in their mouth, so they just followed Roman, holding tightly to his hand for Safety, silently hoping they wouldn't get too lost.  
  
Hopefully, Roman was still walking in a straight line. He'd had to bat multiple stalks of corn out of the way and hadn't been paying much attention at all to where he'd been going, so it was possible they were just walking in a circle. Again. Oh well.  
  
They were doing their best- "Are we- " And then Deceit was promptly smacked in the face with an ear of corn Roman had whacked away. They made a very offended noise, glaring at Roman halfheartedly. "Watch where you're batting corn to, jeez."  
  
Roman spun around, pausing in his corn whacking escapade. Oops- "Sorry about that- Oh, if you were asking if we're near the edge of the maze, I have no idea. Although, I think there might be people over there. But that could just be another path through the maze."  
  
Deceit glanced around, looking through the corn and turning back to Roman. "Well, I've been severely injured, I don't know if I can go on any further. You may have to…leave me here... " There was so much drama in those two sentences. The subtext was that Dee wanted to be carried.  
  
Somehow, Roman got the subtext without really getting the subtext. He just used any excuse to sweep someone off their feet. "Well, I can't leave you behind. That would be terrible." With that, he lifted Deceit up, bridal style, and carried him straight through the path.  
  
Welp- They were being carried. That was easy. Deceit wrapped their arms around Roman's neck, grinning, pressing a light kiss on his jaw, since that was the closest thing they could reach. "My hero. Whatever would I do without you?"  
  
"For one thing, you'd still be stuck in this maze and for another, your life wouldn't be nearly as fabulous." After probably weirding out the people on the path that they'd sort of just strolled on through, Roman was pretty sure he saw the edge of the maze now. Probably.  
  
"Of course. I truly am blessed by your presence." Deceit leaned their head onto Roman's shoulder, closing their eyes and just- letting themself appreciate the fact that Roman was carrying them through a corn maze while they were on a date because¿? How did this happen?  
  
At long last, it appeared that they'd made it out of the corn maze with a little bit of bending the rules. Roman was really enjoying having Deceit's head on his shoulder, so, although his arms may have been getting slightly tired, he didn't put them down yet.  
  
Dee definitely wasn't planning on asking to be set down, and they were definitely also still kissing the side of his jaw, although every time Roman looked at them, they gave him an innocent smile- No teasing here, nope  
  
Roman really wanted to kiss Dee back, but their face was just too far awayyy and their little smiles only made him want to kiss them moreee and Roman was not happy about this. He sighed, giving up as he said, "Now, where do we get your turkey abomination?"  
  
"Hmm?" They shifted a little in Roman's arms, moving to kiss his neck- which was probably not the smartest idea, because it might cause Roman to drop them. But whatever. "Oh. Somewhere, just walk around, let me know if you see it." Are they making Roman suffer on purpose? Yeah...  
  
"You're lucky I like you. Otherwise, I'd definitely drop you" Roman said with a huff. He looked around for anything that looked like it could even possibly sell a bacon wrapped turkey leg, but didn't see anything that stood out. Well, time to wander aimlessly now.  
  
Was that a little giggle? From Deceit? Yep. Then they immediately stopped because Dee didn't giggle, that was like… not. something… they did. or. whatever. "Love you, too, babe." Now they were just snickering against Roman's neck.  
  
Well, that giggle was just about the most perfect thing Roman had heard all day. He also appreciated the whole 'babe' thing because he was a sucker for literally any pet name in existiance. In conclusion: he was very much in love.  
  
Dee glanced up, looking around for where that fabled bacon wrapped turkey leg was. "Try over there." They pointed left, towards a group of food booths, before nuzzling back into his neck with a content sigh.  
  
Despite the slight weight of Dee in his arms, this was actually quite comfortable. Apparently, carrying people around was Roman's calling in life. He headed left towards the food, saying regretfully, "You know, I'm going to have to put you down when you order your turkey thing."

"Hmm. Well, then we'll have to sit down after we get it, so I can sit in your lap." That was the next best thing to bring carried. Dee smiled, bringing one hand up and running their fingers through Roman's hair.  
  
Oh- the hair stroking made him m e l t. "Mhmmm yeah. That's. A good plan. Right there." Roman looked around for a second before spotting a turkey wrapped bacon leg on one of the menus. Welp. Looks like Deceit has to be set down now.  
  
"I'm full of good plans. Only the best. Except for when my plans fail spectacularly. But whatever." They are gonna... wiggle out of Roman's arms and flop onto the ground. But they're still holding his hand as they tug him over towards the bacon wrapped turkey leg.  
  
Roman just smiled at Deceit, letting himself be dragged along willingly. Being with them was nicer than he could have imagined, and being creativity, he'd imagined it in extraordinarily, perfectly perfect detail.  
  
They have successfully gotten their bacon wrapped turkey leg, and now they're gonna figure out how to seductively eat it. And also find a bench and push Roman down on it. And then just. sit sideways on his lap, making a very happy noise.  
  
He mimics the very happy noise because he's also Very Happy and this is very good and neither of them should ever move. He wraps his arms around Dee to ensure this fact, at least for now.  
  
Dee cuddled into his chest, wrapping their tongue around a piece of bacon and then munching it. Sexxy (it really wasn't). "This is fun," they looked at Roman with a genuine smile.  
  
Roman nodded. "Much better than chess. Let's agree to never play chess again. Except. If I win. Then chess is great." That was very off topic, but running through a corn maze and feelings made him sort of delirious.  
  
"Well, then I guess we'll never play chess. Because you'll never beat me, obviously." They're actually not great at chess, but being able to flirt with Roman and distract him definitely made them waaaay better at it.  
  
"Joke's on you, because now I'm going to practice just so I can prove you wrong." Just because he said he didn't want to play chess doesn't mean that he's going to throw away a chance to win. He's not at all competitive. Clearly.  
  
"Make sure you practice on being less easily flustered whenever I look at you," Deceit teased, grinning. "That was really your only downfall, babe."  
  
"Pffffft I was not! Flustered. Nope." Well, maybe he had been. A little bit. Lying to Deceit themself was dumb, so he amended, "Okay, maybe I sort of was. But it was youuu so you can't really blame me, right?"  
  
"Of course I don't blame you, you really can't help yourself, considering how gorgeous I am." They poked his shoulder, winking at him. "And I _totally_ wasn't trying to distract you on purpose. Obviously."  
  
Well, he can't deny the gorgeousness. It's pretty evident, after all. But Roman's feeling horribly betrayed by the realization that he could have wOn if said gorgeousness wasn't so overwhelming, so in return he decided not to agree with Deceit. Instead, he gave a betrayed huff.  
  
They laughed, leaning into his chest, drawing little circles across his shirt with their finger. "Not my fault you're gullible. Plus, when you get all flustered you make the dorkiest sounds. And your face gets completely red."  
  
"I do not! I- not- don't- no!" He said, getting all flustered and making the dorkiest sounds, his face going completely red. "This isn't fair-"  
  
"And you just proved my point. Dork." They poked him again. "I'd kiss you, but I'm far too focused on this bacon wrapped turkey leg. Which is much more important than kissing you." Okay, that was just them being a sarcastic punk, don't mind that-  
  
Aw, but now he's pouting. "How can _anything_ be more important than kissing me? Much less a bacon wrapped turkey leg?" Trick question, the answer is that there's nothing more important. And now Roman has a personal vendetta against bacon wrapped turkey legs.  
  
"Bacon wrapped turkey legs taste better," Deceit responded easily, smirking at him. Are they taunting him just to see what he'll do? Yes, absolutely, because they both know bacon wrapped turkey legs aren't as good as kissing Roman, duh.  
  
Absolutely! Not! This was not allowed. Snatching the bacon wrapped turkey leg out of Deceit's hand, Roman pulled them up by their cape thing so he could actually reach their face and, of course, kissed them. Pulling back, he said, "You are so wrong. Find a better excuse."  
  
Deceit smirked, wrapping their arms around Roman to hold themself up. "Look, I'm sorry you've been out-performed by a turkey leg, but sometimes it happens."  
  
"I! Have not been!" He would have crossed his arms, but that would mean letting go of Deceit, so he didn't. "Now you don't get back your supposedly superior turkey leg. Ha."  
  
"Oh no. Whatever will I do? What a horrible tragedy. Guess I'll have to settle for the next best thing." They kissed Roman again, their smirk turning into a smile as they did.  
  
Roman would have protested that he was the first best thing, but then he was kissing Deceit, so he didn't say anything at all. He felt them smile into the kiss, and he couldn't help but smile back and hold on to them tighter.  
  
"Hmm. You know, maybe it is the best thing. I can't quite tell yet." They moved back in to the kiss before pulling back again. "You know, I think your kisses are the best thing. So can I have my turkey leg back yet, or-"  
  
"Mm, I don't know. I think you're just saying that so you can have your superior turkey leg back. I'm going to have to ask you to say that again, just to be sure." He's grinning and dangling the coveted turkey leg just out of reach, supremely proud of his plan.  
  
Deceit rolled their eyes and gripped the back of Roman's hair, kissing him thoroughly in a way that was not appropriate for a fair—DeE, there are ChiLdrEn pReSenT—but while Roman was distracted, they snatched the turkey leg right out of his hand before they sat back breathlessly.  
  
It actually took Roman a few seconds to realize that he no longer held the turkey leg in his hand. When he finally did, he blinked, spluttered, and then sulked. "Well, that wasn't very fair."  
  
"Mmm. Want me to do it again?" Deceit asked, flicking their tongue out and licking their lips. "Also, we're at a fair. Everything's fair. That's fair, and that's fair, that sign over there even says fair-"  
  
"That's not what I meant! And you know that! Why are words the same- so confusing." This was going to be off topic now, but Roman very much wanted Deceit to kiss him again. So, without actual context, he just said "Yes" seemingly out of the blue and called it a day.  
  
Deceit _could_ be nice. And just kiss Roman again, but Roman didn't like Deceit because they were _nice_ , Plus, what would be the fun in that? "Yes about what?" They grinned, watching him.  
  
Welp. Now he's just going to go back on his original plan. And lie to none other than Deceit yet again because he's just so smart like that. "Ohhh nothing yes to nothing I didn't say yes what are you talking about-" That convinced no one, but Roman's going to smile like it did.  
  
"Oh wow, you're a wonderful liar, Roman. You'll have to teach me some of your absolutely flawless tricks sometime." Deceit adjusted their position on his lap, bringing their legs al other way up on the bench and leaning back a little, looking up at him.  
  
"Why, thank you!" Roman smiled at the compliment, before- "Wait..." he frowned. "Oh, so then that wasn't a compliment. And you're saying I shouldn't lie. Gotcha." Does that mean he's explaining himself now? Nope.  
  
Deceit snorted, hiding a laugh behind their hand. "Try leaving the lying to me, maybe." They sighed, squinting over at the trash can across from them and throwing their turkey leg into it, triumphantly cackling when they got it in. "I totally could do sports. I'm so athletic-"  
  
Roman raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said you were good at lying. I should 'leave the lying to you', you said. Well, no one believed that, so who's bad at lying now?" Newsflash: it's still Roman, but he'll turn literally anything into a competition he has to win.  
  
Deceit paused to think up a defense, and then decided that was too much work, so they flicked some hair out of Roman's face and then flopped down with their head in his lap. "Still you."  
  
Just because that was accurate didn't mean Roman had to agree with it. "Guess we'll have to be terrible at lying together because apparently, I'm not the only one here who is." Ties weren't ideal, but they were certainly better than losing.  
  
"I'm horrible at my job, then. I should probably be fired. Become… what, truth? I don't know any antonyms for deceit," they muttered thoughtfully. "Truth… uhhh…" Yeah, they had absolutely nothing else.  
  
"Being truth may possibly be more convenient, but I like you as you." Was that whole thing just an excuse to be horribly cheesy? No, Roman couldn't have possibly planned that far in advance, but he can pretend he did. With a self-satisfied smile, he leaned down for another kiss.  
  
Deceit made a soft 'oh' sound into the kiss, blinking as they processed what Roman had said. "You mean that?" They blinked again, staring at him.  
  
Roman blinked back, genuinely confused. "Um, duh. If I didn't like you as you, why would I want to date you? Or fallen in love with you?" That was just common sense now, wasn't it?  
  
"I- I don't know. I've- no one ever really… likes that part of me? The. compulsive lying. It's just something they tolerate at best." They shrugged it off, sighing quietly. "Never mind."  
  
"You don't have to pretend that's not some big important thing, because it kind of is, right? The lying kind of makes you, well, you. Merely tolerating it is like ignoring a part of who you are. So if no one else will, I'll more than tolerate every part of you."  
  
He held Dee closer, suddenly feeling very protective of them.  
  
Deceit made a quiet sound of appreciation, burying their face into Roman's chest to hide their soft blush and smile. "You're- you- mmmph." Very eloquent, Dee.  
  
Time for Roman's second eyebrow raise of the day. "I'm what, exactly? I don't think I caught that, but I'm going to assume it was a glowing compliment." He smiled down at the buried head of Deceit, quite amused.  
  
"Shuddup-" Deceit responded, reaching up to cover his mouth, which was very hard considering they weren't looking at him, but they did manage it. "Shush."  
  
Well, now Roman just had the perfect excuse to incessantly kiss Deceit's hand until they decided to move it. Then he could go back to pestering them again, so really, this was a win-win situation for him.  
  
Deceit did a little squeak of surprise, and almost moved their hand away, but then didn't, because that was kind of cute. Also... have they mentioned they're touch starved? Because they're very touch starved.  
  
Fine then. If Deceit wasn't going to move their hand, Roman was going to keep kissing it. Haha! How evil. Clearly, he hasn't yet realized that he's currently doing exactly what they want, but either way, he wouldn't really mind.  
  
Deceit kept their hand there for a little longer, but then it started to tickle, and they let out a little bit of laughter and pulled their hand back down, going back to snuggle against his shirt.  
  
Absolutely adorable- but that didn't mean that Roman was going to let go of the potential compliment that he had yet to receive. So, after planting a kiss in their hair because why not, he asked, "So, what was that you were going to say?"  
  
"Nothing. Dork." Then they nuzzled further into Roman's shirt so their voice was more muffled. "Except that you're really cute and sweet and I love you-" What? They didn't say that. Definitely not...  
  
"Awww!" Roman hadn't totally caught all of that, but from 'cute' 'sweet' and 'love', he figured that it was some sort of cheesy compliment that he should hold over their head for eternity because they'd probably be pretty rare. "I love you too. And you're also a dork."  
  
"Whatever." Deceit sighed quietly, running their hands across the fabric of Roman's shirt. "We should probably head back soon, it's getting dark."  
  
"Mm, good point." He lifted Deceit back up again so he could carry them all the way home because, remember, they're injured. Roman can't just leave them behind now, can he? No, that would be rude.  
  
Deceit was definitely not complaining about that, and they wrapped their arms around Roman's neck, making a happy hissing noise. "I'm glad I made you come with me. It was much more fun with you."  
  
"I'm glad you made me come too. Much better than staring at a wall all day and moping." He smiled at them, barely able to believe that just that morning, he'd been absolutely positive that they'd never ever like him. He was glad that had changed.


	3. Love You When I'm Drunk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman hated that Deceit was a dark side. Not because it made them evil or anything (because, for the record, it didn’t), but because it meant he hardly got to see them.
> 
> Deceit did miss Roman, more than they'd like to admit, but going over to the main sides' part of the house was something they hated. From the silently judging looks from the others to the outright yelling from Virgil, it pretty much sucked

Roman hated that Deceit was a dark side. Not because it made them evil or anything (because, for the record, it didn’t), but because it meant he hardly got to see them.  
  
Any time they wanted to meet, they had to figure out which side of the house to go to, when they’d both have free time, how they could avoid the other dark sides; the list went on, and even finding the time to plan around that was difficult.  
  
It seemed as though every time Roman was free, Deceit had something to do and every time they were free, he had some matter that needed to be taken care of. They hadn’t had a date since the one at the fair, and it had been almost a _full week_. That was a long time by Roman’s standards. If it were up to him, he’d see them for at least three hours a day.  
  
More would be better, obviously, but three hours was the minimum. At this rate though, he would consider himself lucky if he was able to steal even one kiss in a day. It was truly a tragedy, and something had to be done to fix it.  
  
He’d made sure he cleared out his entire schedule today just so he could catch Deceit when they were free and talk to them. He was going to make sure they solved this problem, and they were going to solve it together. Roman wouldn’t rest until they did.  
  
Deceit did miss Roman, more than they'd like to admit, but going over to the main sides' part of the house was something they hated. From the silently judging looks from the others to the outright yelling from Virgil, it pretty much sucked.  
  
But apparently, Roman was free today, and Deceit had free time for a while in the afternoon. They ventured to the main house, a little nervously, entering the living room and spotting Roman on the couch. "Hi," they said softly, leaning over the back of the couch and wrapping their arms around Roman's shoulders.  
  
"Hi," Roman said in reply, turning his head slightly to face them with a smile. "I missed you." Patting the spot on the couch next to him, he continued, "C'mere so we can figure out a way for me to not miss you. Because this kinda sucks right now."  
  
Instead of walking around the couch and sitting down, Deceit just kind of… flopped over the top of it and curled up next to Roman. "What did you have in mind?" They nuzzled a little into his shoulder, making a happy noise. They'd missed him, too.  
  
For someone who's trait was creativity, the number of ideas Roman had concerning this matter was disappointing. "Well, we need to figure out a better way to coordinate." That was it? That was it. There wasn't much else they _could_ do, really. He sighed. "I don't know."  
  
"We do. I'd like to see you more often. But it's hard for me to get in here. You know that. I don't belong here." And they didn't want to, either. They liked the way things were, aside from not seeing Roman enough.  
  
"I wish you did," he said with a quiet sigh. He shook his head though, adding, "But you know I can't exactly go over to the dark side of the house, because, well. I don't exactly belong there either. We're kind of stuck." Roman really wanted things to be different than they were.  
  
Deceit nodded, and frowned a little. "But we already knew this, so… we haven't exactly solved anything."  
  
They knew not seeing each other a lot bothered Roman a lot more than it bother Deceit, probably because human contact was Not a thing they were used to, and once a week was... a lot. But they were trying not to be insensitive about that.  
  
"I know. But also I don't. You know?" He really wanted to ask more of Deceit and get them to come by more often, though he knew that would be selfish. It would also mean that he had to visit the dark side's part of the house, and Roman wanted to do that exactly zero times.  
  
Which left them very, very separate. Aside from the Imagination, there was nowhere- "Oh, duh! The Imagination!" he blurted. The Imagination, the realm he had complete control over. Why hadn't he thought of this sooner, again?  
  
Deceit jumped at Roman's sudden realization, sitting up a little. "Uh… that would work? I don't want to… mess anything up by going there." They didn't really know what would happen, but potentially messing things up didn't sound good.  
  
"Oh, it'll be fine. I control basically everything that happens there, so you wouldn't mess anything up. Probably." Roman didn't really know either, but he was fairly confident in his ability to fix anything that went wrong. "Now we just have to make sure our schedules line up."  
  
"Probably," Deceit repeated skeptically. Then they frowned again, sighing quietly. "I can really only be here for an hour or so today. After that…" they shrugged. "I don't know when I'll be free again. Maybe not until next week?"  
  
"Next week?" Roman asked, trying not sound as dejected as he was. "Are you sure?" It may sound dramatic, but Roman honestly didn't think he'd be able to survive until next week. Everything would have been so much easier if he'd fallen in love with someone else. If only.  
  
"Well, it's not- I'm not happy about it. I'm just. Saying. I don't want to lie to you and tell you I'll be able to come over here to see you every day when I know it isn't true."  
  
They'd made an executive decision to Not Lie To Roman, but maybe they were going to far with the brutally honest thing. They'd never had a relationship before, okay, they didn't know how it worked.  
  
"Right. Because I'm not your top priority." He wasn't taking this personally. At all. "But you know what? It's fine. Once a week is a perfectly normal frequency to see your brand new boyfriend."  
  
Deceit snapped their head up, glaring at Roman. "Excuse me? What, like you make it a priority to come visit me in my part of the house all the time? You hate it there, but you expect me to love coming here, just to see you?"  
  
"Last I checked, you didn't like it there either! At least here, there's no risk of _literally dying_. So pardon me if I prefer this side of the house." He was glaring now too, becoming gradually more upset.  
  
"I don't belong here just as much as you don't belong there, okay? You knew that from the beginning, you knew that I wasn't a 'light' side, and-" Deceit broke off, shaking their head. "I'm trying. But I don't belong here."  
  
Perhaps Roman should have forgiven them then. They were trying, after all, but he wasn't thinking straight. He was hurt, and all he could imagine doing was hurting Deceit too. "You're right. You don't belong here. Maybe you should just get out of here," he said coldly. "Go away."  
  
The tears welled in Deceit's eyes as Roman said that, and then on the last two words, their eyes widened in panic, and they opened their mouth to tell him what would happen- but it was already too late. "Don't-"  
  
And then they vanished, appearing seconds later in their room, and the tears that had welled up spilled quickly and they covered their mouth as they sobbed, retreating to a corner and sinking down onto the floor.  
  
They knew Roman hadn't done that on purpose, that he didn't know what talking Deceit to go away would do, but he'd still said it. He'd still genuinely wanted Deceit to leave, because they didn't belong, and it was hard not to disconnect the fact that Roman hadn't made them leave on purpose with the fact that he'd literally told them they didn't belong.  
  
Roman blinked at the spot where Deceit had been just a moment ago. "Where...?" He asked, as though they could answer him. When his question was met only with silence, he stood up and looked around. What had just happened? Had he... messed up?  
  
Had he messed up so badly that they'd chosen to just leave him here? No, they'd said 'don't' at the end there, which probably meant they hadn't wanted to leave. So Deceit was somewhere, almost definitely hurt by what he'd said, and Roman had to find him and fix this mess he'd made.  
  
Which meant traveling to the dark side of the house, more than likely. Even after all that, he was still going to have to go over there. Roman sighed, summoning his sword as he poofed into a dark hallway. Now, to find them. "Deceit?" He called, voice echoing off the walls.  
  
Deceit didn't hear Roman, too preoccupied with trying to stop crying- which did not work, their sobbing only grew louder as they curled up and rested their head on their knees. But Roman should be able to find their door easily- it's bright yellow one with a snake design on it.  
  
When Roman came to his sense and realized he probably shouldn't be announcing his presence here, he took a few steps down the hall, looking for a door that could potentially belong to Deceit. After only a second, he found the bright yellow door with the snake on it and knocked.  
  
Deceit curled further up at the knock, throwing the nearest object (which happened to be a pillow) at the door, which didn't do much. "What?" they asked in a rather raspy and weak voice, making no plans to get up and open the door for whoever it was.  
  
Oh no they'd been _crying_ he could hear it in their voice and now Roman felt so much worse. He should probably say that he was sorry. "Dee? It's- it's Roman and before you tell me to go away can you at least let me come in and apologize? Please?" And he almost never said please.  
  
Deceit froze, biting their lip and then standing up shakily. Roman shouldn't be out in the hallway alone, so they opened the door after wiping away their tears and sighing quietly, stepping back so Roman could come in.  
  
For a moment, Roman hovered in the doorway as he briefly debated giving Deceit a hug, but decided against it. They didn't look to be very happy with him, so it was best to get right to the point.  
  
He stepped into the room as he said, "I'm really, really sorry. I didn't mean what I said, because you do belong. You can belong with me, wherever I am. And I'm sorry I made you vanish. I didn't mean to do that, honest." He can't seem to quite meet Deceit's eyes. In fact, he looks far more interested in the floor, but at least he's doing his best.  
  
They fiddled with the hem of their cape as Roman spoke, listening to him. He wasn't lying, Deceit looked up at him, sighing. "I know you didn't. You didn't know what would happen if you told me to go away." They paused, trying not to cry again. "But you still told me to go away."  
  
Roman winced. "Yeah. I know. And I wish I could take that back. I'm sorry," he repeated. Realizing he was still holding his sword, he put that away as he swore, "I promise you that I'll never do it again. I don't want to hurt you."  
  
Deceit stared at Roman for a second, before moving forward and taking his hand, then pulling him into a hug. "I forgive you. And I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't blame you for wanting to see me more often. That's. shitty of me."  
  
"Mm, maybe," Roman agreed with a half smile. "But I probably shouldn't be so needy, either. This is just... new. I don't really know what I'm doing." Which was weird to admit, especially considering he was the side most responsible for the romances is Thomas' life.  
  
"I don't either. I've never had a… real relationship before." Dee pulled back to look at Roman, running their hand across his jaw. "We'll figure it out, though." There were still leftover tears in their eyes, which they wiped away hastily.  
  
"We'll figure it out," Roman repeated quietly. He nodded in agreement before leaning his head tiredly into their touch, very done with fighting. Placing his hand on Deceit's face, he wiped away the final tear before giving them light kiss. "I love you."  
  
Deceit smiled into the kiss, stating close to Roman and twisting their fingers into his shirt. "I love you, too." They took a deep breath, closing their eyes and leaning against Roman.  
  
Roman wrapped his arms around Deceit, making a happy humming noise. This was exactly where he wanted to be every day, but of course he couldn't. Realistically, he knew he couldn't even see Deceit that often. He'd get used to it, though. For both of them.  
  
"Do you want to stay here for a little bit?" Deceit asked quietly. "I don't really know what to do. But. I'd like to spend more time with you." They're trying their hardest...  
  
Even though it meant sticking around in the dark side of the house for a little while longer, Roman really did want to spend more time with Deceit. "Yeah. That'd be nice," he said with a smile. "I don't think I've ever seen your room before."  
  
"Well. Welcome to the jungle," Deceit smiled, gesturing around the room, which definitely did resemble a jungle, with all the plants and bright flowers. And the snakes hanging from vines. Deceit has a lot of snakes.  
  
Figuring a sword wasn't the safest thing to have around the snakes that he'd just now noticed, even sheathed, Roman waved his hand and the sword vanished. He tilted his head up and stared. "You have a lot of snakes," he said rather unnecessarily. Roman kind of wanted to hole one.  
  
"I do," Deceit agreed, turning away and carefully easing the closest one off a branch he was currently climbing. "This is Sammael. Do you want to hold him?"  
  
"YeS-" He immediately held out both of his hands for the snake to be placed in. It was possible that he was excited. He may not have ever held a snake in his life, but it couldn't possibly be difficult. Besides, there wasn't a single animal alive that didn't adore princes, right?  
  
Dee smiled, carefully setting Sammael in Roman's arms, making sure he got comfortable, winding around his wrist, before letting go. "Just don't pet his head, he won't like that."  
  
"No petting the head. Got it." He already loved Sammael, and it had been literally one minute since he'd met him. It felt sort of odd, having a snake wrapping himself around his arm, but Roman decided he didn't actually mind. Petting Sammael's scales was also surprisingly fun.  
  
"He just finished shedding, so he's all smooth right now." Dee smiled as Roman pet him, deciding that there was nothing more adorable than Roman petting their snakes. "You can come sit down on my bed, if you want."  
  
There was definitely a suggestive comment to be made there, but Roman didn't feel like the snakes should have to be subjected to that. So he stayed quiet instead, continuing to pet the snake as he flounced onto the bed.  
  
The snakes appreciated the lack of suggestive commentary. Or... they would if they understood English. Deceit moved and sat next to him in the bed, resting their chin on his shoulder.  
  
Luckily for Roman, the head on his shoulder was withing easy kissing distance. He turned his own head slightly to the right, brushing Deceit's lips with his own. This moment couldn't be anymore perfect. The snake was cute, Dee was cute, Roman was just surrounded by vast cuteness.  
  
Dee smiled, wrapping an arm around Roman and bringing their feet up on the bed. "I'm glad we figured everything out. I don't think I like fighting with you."  
  
"Well, that's good because I don't think I like fighting with you either. It isn't fun." Letting his head fall onto Dee's shoulder? Now, that was fun. And also not a position that he planned to move from any time soon. Their shoulder was a great place for his head to stay.  
  
Deceit hummed in response, closing their eyes and sighing quietly. They were very comfy here, but also, Roman staying in Dee's room for too long wouldn't be a good idea. "We should go out. And do something." Do what? Dee didn't know. They'd been on one (1) date. But still.  
  
"Oh! Yes! There's a thing that I want to do with you, but you don't get to know it yet." Roman jumped off the bed, carefully extracting his arm from Sammael's coils. He put out his hand for Deceit to take, saying somewhat impatiently, "Come on, let's goooo!"  
  
Oh. Well then. Deceit blinked several times, because they had _just_ been getting comfy. They should've waited until a little later to ask Roman that. Oh well. They took his hand, standing up. "Why don't I get to know what it is?"  
  
Roman shrugged, giving them a grin. "Because surprises are just so, so much more fun. You'll see." He'd decided that walking was supremely overrated, so Roman snapped with his other hand and the two of them materialized in front of a karaoke bar. "Tada!"  
  
Deceit blinked again, now they were outside and that was unexpected. Then several more blinks as they looked up and attempted to assemble an appropriate reaction. Of all things, they had not been expecting that. They'd never been to one before. "Are you going to sing for me?"  
  
"Mm, duh. Why I else would we be here?" With that, Roman led Deceit into the building. He was immediately hit with a wave of flashy lights and music. Shockingly, Roman had yet to go to a karaoke bar either since he'd never had anyone to go with, but he already felt at home here.  
  
"Fair, but-" oh, it was loud. Deceit didn't mind loud things, and they didn't mind singing. They didn't mind getting drunk while singing in a loud place. What they did mind was the amount of people.  
  
Normal, human people, who tended to give Deceit judging looks because of their scales. But Roman was here, so they should be okay. It would be fine. They were just gonna- hold onto his hand real tight and not make eye contact with anyone. Blend in and Act Natural™️.  
  
Roman, being the not idiot that he was, noticed Deceit's death grip on his hand and glanced over at them. His smile turned into frown of concern. What was wrong? Did they not like it here?  
  
"Is everything okay? We can go somewhere else if you want, we don't have to stay. I can think of something else." Was it the singing that was making them hold on to his hand so tightly? It was probably all the singing.  
  
"No- it's just- I do- I like it- I-" Well, that was a word jumble.  
  
"It's the people, that's all. When I go out, people- stare at me. And there's a lot of people here. To stare at me. But I want to- I like singing, and I like listening to you sing, and I want to stay, I'm just…" They shook their head a little, frowning. "I don't like people staring at me like that." But they really did want to stay, as long as they could hide behind Roman whenever they felt bad.  
  
Roman decided it was his duty as a boyfriend to smack anyone who looked at Deceit funny, but that probably wouldn't end well. "I will protect you from weird looks with the full might of my glares." Those were less likely to get them kicked out anyway, so that's what he'd go with.  
  
Deceit smiled, loosening in their death grip on Roman's hand. "My hero," they said with a small smirk. "I'll be okay if I'm protected by the death glares."  
  
Not that Deceit wasn't capable of giving people death glares, sometimes they just didn't want to think about the way people were constantly staring at them. Having Roman to glare at them instead gave them a little break from feeling shitty. Which was nice.  
  
If Deceit kept calling Roman their hero he would, first of all, literally melt and second of all, he would never answer to anything else. Still blushing at the nickname, he pulled Deceit towards a table. "Let's go sit down first, then I can sing you a song."  
  
"Mmkay." They followed him, smiling at his blush. They had an entire arsenal of nicknames for Roman that would make him blush. It was a talent of theirs. "What are you going to sing? Or is that a secret?"  
  
"Definitely a secret. I think you'll like it, but we'll see." With that, Roman slid into a seat at an open table, glancing around to begin his Protect Deceit At All Costs mission. He was fairly certain he'd already scared two people away because they'd blinked too judgemtally.  
  
Judgmental blinking is a real problem, it's very rude, and a major problem in today's society. Deceit sat right next to him, wrapping their arm around him. This was their boyfriend. If anyone flirts with him, they will face the wrath of the snek. "I'm sure I'll love it."  
  
"I'm sure you will too." Roman smiled, shifting slightly so he could rest his head on their shoulder until the end of the song. Should he be going up to the stage now to prepare? Probably, but now he was here and definitely wasn't moving until he absolutely had to.  
  
No leaving now. Deceit is snuggling up very close to him and has no plans of letting go. If he gets up, Dee will cling to him like a koala. "I like it here." Was it mostly just because they were with Roman? That's likely...  
  
Well, it looks like he's stuck now. What a shame. He smiled at the truly terrible development. "And I like you." That response hadn't really made sense, but oh well that wasn't the point. The point was that Roman was now able to somehow move even closer to Dee and that was good.  
  
Dee made a little noise that was ??almost¿?? a giggle?? "Dork." They poked his shoulder and grinned. "I might sing something for you later, if you get me a little drunk." Was that a subtle way to ask Roman to buy them a drink because they didn't want to talk to anyone? Yep...  
  
"Yes!" He didn't think he'd ever heard Deceit sing before, so he quite literally jumped at the chance, somehow managing to escape their koala-clinging. "I will be right back so I can get you to sing something," he grinned, spinning off towards the bar to get them both drinks.  
  
Roman hadn't ever heard Deceit sing because they made a habit of only singing when they were alone. Or when they were with their snakes. "I'll be here."  
  
Roman wound his way through the crowd towards the bar near the other end of the room. He had to raise his voice a little bit to be heard over the music, but after a few minutes he was able to return to the table, successfully having retrieved two martinis. "There we go."  
  
"Thanks, babe." They took one of the martinis and immediately went back to snuggling against Roman. And swirling their martini around in the glass while pulling out an olive and Definitely eating it seductively. Because... duh.  
  
There was a possibility that Roman had gotten them martinis just for the seductive olive eating. Since the seductive bacon wrapped turkey leg eating hadn't worked out very well, Roman had decided to give them a second chance. He was not disappointed. "Mhm," said, not distracted.  
  
Listen, at least an attempt was made with the bacon wrapped turkey leg... can Dee at least get a gold star for trying? No? No, okay. Fair. Well, they're gonna seductively eat the second olive anyway. While doing sort of a slow-blinking-fluttery-eyelashes thing at Roman.  
  
Slow-blinking-fluttery-eyelashes things were the best things, and clearly Dee was asking to be kissed. Roman would be a horrible boyfriend if he didn't kiss them while they were doing the slow-blinking-fluttery-eyelashes thing. Because he wasn't a horrible boyfriend, he did.  
  
Well Dee is going to have to do the slow-blinking-fluttery-eyelashes thing much more often, because kissing Roman was always their ultimate goal. "You're sweet. Metaphorically. And literally."  
  
"You're sweeter. In every way possible," Roman said, winning at the compliment game and kissing Deceit again. The clapping that came after the end of the song that had been playing reminded Roman that the whole reason they were here was so he could sing something for Dee.  
  
Which meant he probably had to get up. The thought made him very sad, but it had to be done. He slipped out of Deceit's arms and set down his martini. "I think that's my cue to get up there and serenade you with my beautiful voice."  
  
Dee grinned, and pulled him back down for one more kiss, for good luck. "I'm sure you'll do horribly... wonderfully. I meant wonderfully." Being sincere and not sarcastic is... hard? They're doing their best, okay...  
  
Roman was just going to pretend that he hadn't heard the slip up (or at least, what he was pretty sure was a slip up. it was hard to tell sometimes,) and grinned. "Thanks," he said before quickly making his way over to the stage so he wouldn't have to wait in a line.  
  
He was in luck, as it seemed that no one else wanted to sing at the current moment. Stepping onto the stage, he strode confidently over to karaoke machine, scrolling through his options. Finding the the song he'd been looking for, his smile grew.  
  
He selected it and walked over to the microphone. Taking it off of the stand and talking over the first few notes of the song, he said, "I'd like to dedicate this song to the love of my life." Roman winked at Deceit, waiting a few moments for his musical cue.  
  
That got an exaggerated eye roll from Deceit, but they were smiling fondly at Roman anyway. Don't tell anyone, but they love his romantic sappiness. They sipped their martini, and then decided to steal Roman's. He wouldn't notice. Probably.  
  
" _The kids in the hundreds tomorrow will march through the door, they're fighting someone else's war. They'll have so many stories to tell in exchange for a hero's farewell_." See, look! Roman had been paying attention!  
  
He'd figured out that Deceit liked Mika, and what better song was there to sing for them than one titled 'Heroes'? Because, after all, even though Roman considered himself to be a hero, he thought just as highly of Deceit. They were his hero, so this song was perfect. He was very proud of his choice.  
  
Oh- Deceit had never had anyone pay enough attention to them to ever notice the kind of music they liked, let alone sing a song that they loved for them. Also they were slightly drunk, so- Emotions? They were currently feeling a lot of those. Also, Roman had a beautiful voice.  
  
The song was over all too soon. If he could have, Roman would have stayed on stage the whole night, singing for Deceit. But alas, there were other people here so he'd had to return to the audience when he'd finished his performance.  
  
He wound his way back through the crowd until he arrived back at their table, breathless and smiling. "So? What did you think?"  
  
Deceit had finished both theirs and Roman's martinis while he'd been singing, but in their defense... they'd left Roman his olives if he wanted them. "I thought it was amazing. You're beautiful, and. that was beautiful." Words are hard. They're very in love.  
  
Roman smiled at the compliment, flopping down into his seat. "You are too, so it only makes sense to sing you a beautiful song." He frowned slightly at his suddenly empty glass because he didn't remember finishing it, but oh well. At least the olives were left, so he ate those.  
  
"You're- shut up," Dee responded, nudging his shoulder. "You're too sweet, it's going to give me a cavity. Absolutely disgusting." They kissed his cheek anyway.  
  
Roman let out a laugh at Dee's comment and the kiss that came after it. "My goal is to give you as many cavities as humanly possible. I shan't rest until I reach this noble goal." He followed up his declaration with a kiss, smiling as he did so. Operation Cavity was to start now.  
  
“Oh, what joy,” Dee responded, rolling their eyes. “But I have to sing something for you, so the cavities will have to wait.” They stood up, giving him one more kiss. “I’m putting you in charge of punching anyone that looks at me funny while I’m up there.”  
  
"It would be my honor," Roman said, giving as dramatic a bow as possible while still sitting down. He was excited now; he hadn't actually thought that Dee would be singing this early on. Maybe it was the stolen martini working its magic. If so, it had been a worthy sacrifice.  
  
“You’re ridiculous.” They hadn’t picked out a song yet, but- they would think of something, probably. They made their way up to the karaoke machine, taking a minute to look through the songs before picking one, looking up and winking at Roman.  
  
Roman smiled back, somehow paying equal amounts of attention to Deceit, the people nearby that may need to be punched, and the music that was starting up as he tried to figure out what song was playing. Multitasking.  
  
Dee could’ve picked a romantic, sweet song- but ummm... that wasn’t very in character for them. But they were going to stick with the theme of Mika songs, so they ended up picking Last Party. For Emotions™️. Because why pick a fun song when you can cry, right? Right...  
  
oH nO- Roman wasn't good at not crying dramatically on the best of days, but seeing as he'd had alcohol (granted, not very much, but Emotions anyway) and there was music and it was Dee singing and they were so good?¿ and he was very much in love, there may have been some crying.  
  
“ _… And even if it all goes bad, it was the best time we ever had…_ ”  
  
They finished the song, they’d been staring at Roman the whole time, primarily because they didn’t want to make eye contact with anyone else, and they practically ran back to Roman to hide at their table and bury their face in his side. They had a light blush from the drinks, and their face felt a kind of warm. Roman has given them the confidence to go up and sing something but now- nooope, no more people looking at them, thanks.  
  
"That was absolutely perfect," Roman whispered, showering the top of their head with kisses and wrapping his arm around them. He flicked away the last of his tears before resting his head on top of theirs. "I didn't think it was possible, but somehow I love you even more now."  
  
Dee blushed, nuzzling further into Roman’s side. “Dork,” they muttered, but it was very quiet and muffled. “Love you too-“ That was even quieter, and they were even more embarrassed now.  
  
That, by the way, was adorable. And while Roman could have easily asked Dee to repeat themself, he figured that them being sweet and cute was something he shouldn't push. So he said nothing, instead smiling like the dork Dee had wisely said he was.  
  
“Thank you for making this fun,” they muttered quietly. “I thought I wouldn’t like it. But when I’m with you I don’t notice if people are staring at me.” Deceit smiled against Roman’s chest, feeling uncharacteristically comfortable with him.  
  
Roman was (characteristically) proud of himself now. He somehow managed to pull Dee even closer to him, saying, "Well, I'm glad you did have fun. And I think my glares at the judgemental blinkers definitely warded off most of the staring. So you're welcome."

Dee laughed, practically sitting in Roman’s lap now. They looked up at him for a second, gave him a very quick kiss, and then ducked back down to hide again. “Don’t let it go to your head. You’re still a dork.”  
  
Roman grinned at the kiss, returning it to the top of Dee's head, seeing as their face was currently unavailable. "I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks." He was definitely letting it go to his head.  
  
Dee rolled their eyes, but decided to let him have that one. Then they cringed, looking towards the karaoke machine. Whoever was there at the moment really could _not_ sing. “I don’t mean to stifle anyone’s creative whimsy, but that’s making my ears hurt,” they muttered.  
  
"I think they're drunk," Roman said, stating the obvious. "And agreed, drunk singing is definitely not the most pleasant sound. So if that was your way of asking to go home, then yes. Yes, let's definitely go." He got up, offering his hand to Dee.  
  
Roman was apparently smart enough to pick up on signals. Dee was actually surprised by that, but they didn’t say that, seeing as it was rude. “I think I’mmmmm drunk,” Dee responded. They weren’t, really. Just tipsy. But they were going to use that as an excuse to lean on Roman.  
  
Roman was apparently smart enough to pick up on signals. Dee was actually surprised by that, but they didn’t say that, seeing as it was rude. “I think I’mmmmm drunk,” Dee responded. They weren’t, really. Just tipsy. But they were going to use that as an excuse to lean on Roman.  
  
Roman certainly wasn't going to complain about an excuse to have Dee lean on him even if he had noticed that they weren't drunk. He didn't though, because as Dee had rightfully pointed out in their head, he didn't usually pick up on signals. All his smartness had been used up.  
  
Dee was very much leaning on Roman as they walked out, nuzzling into his side. He was warm, and Dee was Not Warm™️, so they needed to get his Warmth. “I want to stay with you…” they murmured. “When we get back home, I want to stay with you.”  
  
They knew they couldn’t, but Roman would have a hard time getting Dee to let go of him when he brought them back to their room.  
  
Figuring that he'd be able to convince Deceit to let go of him when they got back home, Roman just smiled fondly at them. "Maybe for a little while," he said, wondering if that little while would turn into a long while. He kind of hoped it would.  
  
“All night,” Dee said matter-of-factly. “That’s a little while.” That was actually a long while, but whatever. Dee would Never let go of Roman. They were attached now, permanently, and there was no escape.  
  
Well, if you looked at it in the context of the entire existiance of the universe, or Thomas's whole life, or even one year, one night wasn't really a long while. It was actually a very little while. And a very little while couldn't be bad, so... "I mean, that works."  
  
Happy, happy hiss! They stuck their tongue out to emphasize the happiness of their hiss. “Good. Because. I need you to stay with me. It’s required.” It wasn’t required, but whatever.  
  
If Dee said it was required, then clearly it was, in fact, required. He couldn't just _leave_. It wasn't allowed by anyone or anything. So when he poofed them back to Dee's room, Roman had absolutely no choice at all but to stay.  
  
Exactly! Required! Which is why Dee flopped onto their bed, wrapping their limbs around Roman and pulling the blankets over them. Because it was an absolute necessity.  
  
Honestly, Roman snuggling up to Dee was then as important to him as breathing. Entirely necessary. And now he wasn't leaving for a very long- no, _short_ while. So short.


	4. Love Is A Crime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman was on the dark side of the house again. This was the second time he'd visited in the past week, which, by the way, was way more than he ever wanted to. It was pretty much the only place he could find Dee for certain though, so here he was again.
> 
> Dee opened the door a few seconds later, with a bedhead and wearing clothes that looked like they’d been slept in. “You get up too early,” they complained. Dee, it’s like- noon... no- They flopped forwards and wrapped their arms around him, pulling him in their room anyway.

Roman was on the dark side of the house again. This was the second time he'd visited in the past week, which, by the way, was way more than he ever wanted to. It was pretty much the only place he could find Dee for certain though, so here he was again.  
  
Paying close attention to the walls and floors, he made his way to the bright yellow door. He knocked, saying, "Hey, it's me. That was just to make sure that Deceit would know it was him and actually answer the door. Otherwise, there was a definite possibility that they wouldn't.  
  
Dee opened the door a few seconds later, with a bedhead and wearing clothes that looked like they’d been slept in. “You get up too early,” they complained. Dee, it’s like- noon... no- They flopped forwards and wrapped their arms around him, pulling him in their room anyway.  
  
"Right. Early," Roman said, still managing to sound skeptical as he struggled not to fall on top of Dee as they dragged him inside. "Well, it's noon and early or not, I think that means changing time. So you should probably do that, because we have somewhere to go. It'll be fun."  
  
“You can sit on my bed if you want.” They shut the door behind them, pulling Roman further into their room. “Is this just another excuse to serenade me?” Dee teased, kissing him on the cheek before pulling away and heading over to their closet to change into actual clothes.  
  
He flounced onto the bed before saying, "Mm, not this time. I still totally can if you want me to, but today we're visiting the Imagination. I've got so much Stuff planned for the whole day and it's going to be absolutely fantastic!" In case you couldn't tell, he's excited.  
  
Dee smiled, his excitement apparent even if they weren’t looking at him as they changed into their usual outfit- although they picked a different black hat, one with a large, floppy brim. Now they looked less Disney villain and more 1920’s detective. “Okay, I’m ready.”  
  
"Great!" Roman sprung off of the bed and grabbed their hand. "Love the hat, by the way," he said, planting a kiss on their cheek before sinking them both into the Imagination. Instead of being in Dee's room, they'd appeared on a grassy, open plain with a castle in the distance.  
  
Dee blushes and smiled, a happy, genuine smile, holding onto Roman’s hand. “Oh- it’s beautiful.” There was a rustling in some bushes behind them, but they ignored it in favor of looking around.  
  
"It is, isn't it?" Roman said, surveying the land. Even the boring parts of the Imagination were filled with the most brilliant colors, and he'd made every inch of it. Smiling proudly, he turned to look slightly behind him, as rustling Dee had heard was back. "Did you hear that?"  
  
“It’s probably one of your forest animal friends.” They glanced behind them for a second before looking away again, unconcerned. “Do you have any of those? Like, little mice and birds that sing to you or whatever?” They didn’t notice the sky turning gradually darker, either.  
  
"Um, duh. What kind of prince would I be if I didn't have singing birds? They're around here somewhere, I'm sure. Probably some in there," he said, gesturing to the still rustling bush. "We should probably get to the castle, though. It kind of looks like it might rain."  
  
Which was odd, because Roman had thought he'd gotten pretty good at controlling the weather in the Imagination, but oh well. It was probably just nerves, and he wasn't going to let a little rain ruin the day.  
  
“I like the rain,” Dee commented. “A nice, summer storm with-“ They were broken off by a loud clap of thunder, and jumped. It started to pour, and they immediately jumped over to Roman. “Can you tell it to stop?” They asked.  
  
Roman blinked at the rain in confusion. That was fast. And weird. He didn't think he'd ever heard thunder in here before. He'd never wanted it, so there'd never been a reason for it. "Um, yeah. I'll try."  
  
Concentrating hard on the inner workings of the Imagination, Roman tried to figure out where the storm was coming from. And why. Even with his face all screwed up and eyes shut though, he couldn't find anything wrong. There wasn't a single thing that felt off in any way, nothing he could change.  
  
In fact, according to what he was feeling within the Imagination, it should have been perfectly sunny, maybe with a light breeze. So where was this storm coming from? He opened his eyes again, wiping rain droplets off of his face. "I- I can't figure it out. It's weird, there shouldn't be anything wrong at all."  
  
Roman shook his head. "I don't know. Let's just get inside, it'll be easier to figure out when we're not soaking wet.  
  
Dee nodded, taking Roman’s hand and following him to get out of the rain. It was too cold to be relaxing and pleasant anyway. There was another sound from behind them, this time definitely not the sound of something hiding in a bush. It almost sounded like hissing now.  
  
Roman heard that sound too. "Was that you?" He asked, hoping that the only hissing thing in the Imagination was Dee. If it wasn't, that meant that some monster had appeared from somewhere, one that Roman couldn't control. He really didn't like the thought of that.  
  
Dee shook their head, looking around. “Nope. My hisses sound much cute than that.” Okay, not really, there’s not really a scale for the cuteness of snake hisses. But still. “It was probably just the wind, right?” Then they heard it again, and it definitely wasn’t the wind.  
  
"Just the wind," Roman agreed, deliberately not looking backwards. If he didn't see anything, that meant it wasn't there. Genius. "Let's get inside though." But the castle is so far- oH teleportation, duh. That's an actual thing that he's capable of.  
  
Except that it isn't right now? Because when he tried, nothing happened. Ignore that, then- And maybe walk faster, because everything is weird and the castle is safe.  
  
It was getting even darker, now, and Dee tightened their grip on Roman’s hand, looking behind them again. “R- Roman?” There was something behind them, and that something was hissing very loudly, getting closer and closer. They tugged on his sleeve, shivering now.  
  
There was no denying that _something_ was behind them now, so Roman turned to face it, wrapping a protective arm around Dee. No matter how much he concentrated on it though, he couldn't make it go away. Much like with the storm, he couldn't feel anything there. "I- I'm trying-"  
  
“Well, whatever you’re trying, it isn’t-“ Dee broke off when whatever it was appeared, making a small noise in the back of their throat. It was huge, a giant, yellow and green speckled snake bigger than any snake Deceit had ever seen, but that wasn’t what scared them.  
  
What sent a jolt of terror through their body was the fact that it had two heads, each head had one yellow eye and one brown, humanlike eye just like Dee’s. “That’s- Ro- Roman, why-?” They were starting to get panicked now, wrapping themself around Roman.  
  
"That's not- I've never seen that before-" And Roman had seen every monster in the Imagination. He'd created each one and granted, they'd all been mostly by accident, but he was sure he'd remember a giant, two-headed snake. With two human eyes.  
  
Wait- he glanced back and forth between Dee and the snake. One human eye, one snake eye. And it was two-headed too, like their logo. What did that mean? What if- "Are you doing this?" Roman asked, voice suddenly quiet and barely audible above the noise of the storm.  
  
“What? No!” They weren’t doing anything on purpose, they knew that much. Why would Roman think that? Well, they didn’t have time to dwell on the fact that Roman didn’t trust them, because the snake was coming closer, both of its heads directed towards Roman with their fangs out.  
  
"Why else would there be a _giant two-headed snake_ , Deceit?" Roman asked them, his voice becoming gradually higher pitched with every word. He couldn't even think clearly enough to remember that he had a sword, so he was instead stumbling backward and pulling Dee along with him.  
  
Why would you think I would-“ Deceit started, but then stopped as the snake flicked its tail forward, hitting Roman and knocking him several feet away onto the ground.  
  
Dee screamed, wiping the mix of rain and tears out of their eyes and turning to look at the snake as it slithered towards Roman. “No! No, leave him alone!” The snake stopped, turning both its heads to look at Deceit.  
  
Roman's ears were still ringing when he sat up with a wince, clutching his ribs. That snake may have broken a few of them, but his thoughts first went to Dee.  
  
Despite his earlier suspicions that they were to blame for the storm and the snake, he figured now that he'd been wrong. They wouldn't have made the snake purposefully hurt him, after all. The rain was falling so heavily that Roman couldn't see more than a few feet in front of him, but he could make out the fact that the snake had turned away from him.  
  
Had it decided to go after them instead now? That simply wouldn't do. Ignoring the pain in his ribs, Roman stood up, took a few steps forward, and found that he'd been right. Remembering his sword, he unsheathed it and screamed, "Dee!" partly as a warning, but mostly out of fear for them.  
  
His next words died before they even left his mouth though, as he realized that the snake wasn't making any move to attack Dee. It was just laying there, watching them. "Dee?" Roman repeated, growing more and more terrified, but for an entirely different reason.  
  
Dee was staring at the snake, and if the stupid rain would stop, Roman would’ve seen the absolute look of fear they had, taking a small step back, with no idea what to do.  
  
They looked towards Roman, wanting to run towards him and make sure he was okay, but moving towards the snake seemed like a bad idea. They hated the terrified tone in Roman’s voice, they wanted to protect him, to help him, but they didn’t know what to do. Dee stared back at the snake, and slowly took a step forward.  
  
It hissed, and Dee flinched back, but it didn’t do anything else. They took another step closer to Roman, and then bolted, running towards him and hoping the snake wouldn’t come after them. At least Roman had a sword. The snake didn’t move, it just watched them silently. “Roman! Ro- Ro, are you- are you okay?”  
  
They reached out to take his arm, coming closer to check his injuries. “We- we should leave- I don’t know what happened, but-“ But they really, really needed to leave.  
  
"Really. You don't know what happened." Roman took a step back. He wanted to believe Dee so, so badly, but everything about this felt _wrong_.  
  
If they had created the snake, accidentally or not, that would explain why it hadn't attacked them when they'd run over here, and why Roman hadn't been able to control it. But if he followed that train of thought, then it meant that Deceit had wanted the snake to hurt him.  
  
And if they had wanted the snake to hurt him- Well, he didn't particularly want to think about that now, so he waited for Dee's answer, keeping his face blank. There was no need for him to believe something he didn't know to be true.  
  
“Wha- Roman?” Dee pulled back at that, hurt evident on their face. “I don’t-“ They genuinely didn’t know what was going on, why the snake looked like their logo and listened to them. “You really think I did this?”  
  
Sure, it didn’t look good, but Dee had thought Roman trusted them. The realization that he didn’t- hurt. A lot more than they ever thought something could hurt. “I- you don’t trust me. I’d never hurt you, Roman. I’d never want to- to hurt the person I love.” He had to believe that, right? They were telling the truth, they loved him.  
  
Roman knew that he was supposed to trust Dee, that them telling him that he could had to count for something.  
  
But then he heard a little voice in the back of his head, one that asked him if he really thought he could ever trust someone named Deceit when they'd been so willing to hide their 'true feelings' before. And no matter how much he wanted to be able to listen to his heart and the part of himself that assured him that love would triumph over all, that nagging voice stopped him.  
  
After all, there was no reason for Deceit to have chosen to love him over everyone else in the entire world. And even if they said they had, well... "You're Deceit. I don't know what you want." They already looked so hurt that Roman felt terrible for saying it and he knew he should trust them and he had, he really had.  
  
But that was before he'd realized that they could have lied about _everything_ and he had been so smitten that he wouldn't have noticed a thing. Roman didn't want to believe it, but more than that, he didn't want to go through the pain of finding out the truth later on.  
  
“Roman…” They didn’t even know what to say to that. The way he was looking at Deceit made them want to shrink into a corner and never come out. “I- I love you. I wouldn’t-“ They took Roman’s arm, desperately. Please, please don’t be like everyone else and leave them.  
  
He couldn't think clearly, not with Deceit's face looking so broken. He wanted to heal it and mend it and fix it, but what if even that expression was a lie? Roman truly couldn't tell at that point. Nothing made sense.  
  
He didn't pull away, but he couldn't meet their eyes either. "You wouldn't what?" He asked, needing to hear something more. maybe that would make everything clearer.  
  
“I wouldn’t-“ They didn’t know what to say, that they wouldn’t hurt Roman? They wouldn’t lie to him? They’d done both of those things already. All they knew was that they hadn’t done this. “I didn’t do this- I don’t know what’s happening. Please. You have to believe me.”  
  
"I'm trying, but it's..." Roman made a vague gesture, trying to convey, well, everything. "I'm sorry," he said, not quite sure what he was apologizing for but feeling he should all the same. Not sure how to continue, he glanced up at the snake, as though hoping it would tell him.  
  
The snake hissed at him, exposing its fangs on both its heads. It didn’t like Roman, for some reason. Deceit looked back at it and it stopped hissing, its eyes locking on Deceit’s. It wanted to attack Roman, to kill him.  
  
Roman glared at the snake. Hisses were not helpful, so he still wasn't sure what to say. And then it just stopped hissing, so at that point Roman was just confused. "Do you know what it's doing...?" The ominous hissing was really not pleasant.  
  
“… It wants to hurt you,” Deceit said softly, looking away from Roman. They knew that wouldn’t help Roman trust them, but that was what the truth was. They didn’t know what else to say, so they just stayed silent after that.  
  
"Oh." Roman figured that had been the truth, because why would Deceit have lied about that? This also meant that they knew what the snake wanted and- actually, nevermind. He wanted to trust Dee, so it probably was best to not think too hard about that.  
  
What was important was the fact that he now knew for certain that the snake was a monster and wanted to kill him. The only way to prevent that was to get to it first. Pointing his sword at the snake as though daring it to attack, he walked towards it.  
  
“Roman, you’re hurt, I really don’t think you should be-“ The snake lunged forward, spraying venom at Roman. It started to rain harder, & the ground was shaking. Was this all Deceit’s fault? They weren’t doing it on purpose, & they certainly had no idea how to stop it if it was.  
  
"I'm fine," he assured Dee, clearly not fine. He ignored further protests as he continued toward the snake. A few drops of venom had hit him, but it didn't appear to be corrosive. Besides, the rain would wash it off. His ribs still hurt a bit—okay, a lot—but he ignored that too.  
  
Dee continued to protest, they weren’t really sure what else they could do. One of the snake’s heads lunged again, right towards Roman, ready to bite him, and Dee yelled out a warning, not that it was helpful, considering Roman could probably see it just as well as they could.  
  
Roman ducked beneath the lunging head, he realized suddenly that there were two heads which meant double chances of getting eaten. Or killed. He didn't like this snake. Sprinting away from head number one, he stabbed his sword into its side, far from both sets of fangs.  
  
Dee felt the pain before they even realized Roman had stabbed the snake, crying out and falling to the ground. Their side felt like it was on fire- but there was no injury there. What- what was happening? “Roman!”  
  
They yelled, not sure if he could even hear them over the sound of the rain. “Roman, don’t- don’t hurt it!” They grabbed their side, squeezing their eyes shut and trying to block out the phantom pain.  
  
At the sound of his name, Roman spun around, finding Deceit on the ground. Terrified by the thought of what could have happened to them, he abandoned the sword in the snake, figuring it would only weigh him down as he ran back to Dee.  
  
He fell to the ground beside them, scanning for injuries. He didn't see any blood, but their hand was still pressed to their side, so something must have hurt them. If whatever was going on in the Imagination was hurting Dee too, it couldn't have been their fault. Roman never should have doubted them. "Are you alright?"  
  
Dee squeezed their eyes shut, shaking their head. They didn’t want to lie to Roman- but telling him that when he’d stabbed the snake, they’d felt its pain probably wouldn’t make him trust Deceit any more. But they didn’t know what else they could say.  
  
“When- when you stabbed it- I felt it- it hurt me, too.” They kept their eyes closed, knowing what Roman’s reaction would be, that he’d be distrustful and angry, and Dee couldn’t blame him for that.  
  
At that, Roman stood back up, taking a stumbling step back, moving away as fast as he could. "If you- you said you weren't doing this! I tried to trust you, I _did_ trust you and you still fucking _lied_." He gave up on speaking after that, angry visibly draining from him.  
  
No matter how much he wanted to scream at Deceit, he couldn't muster the energy. Everything just hurt. So much. If someone told him that his heart had literally shattered, he'd believe them because that was exactly what this felt like.  
  
“R- Ro- I didn’t- Roman, I-“ They weren’t doing this on purpose, they didn’t know what was happening, they were telling the truth, why couldn’t Roman believe them? “I’m not lying! Why can’t you believe me?”  
  
Even as they screamed that at him, they knew what the answer would be. That they were Deceit, Roman could never trust them, that he’d been a fool to think he could- all of that, and they just wanted to block it out, to curl into a ball and not have to hear those words.  
  
Even with the realization that everything Deceit had done with him these past few weeks had been faked, Roman still couldn't help himself from wanting to believe them. After all, he still cared about them despite his feelings clearly not being reciprocated.  
  
If they stayed here though, Roman would listen to them and give them another chance and he really, really couldn't do that. He doubted he could survive this kind of pain again.  
  
It still broke his heart when he came to the conclusion about what he had to do, though. Barely able to look at Deceit, he said in a small, pained voice: "Go away."  
  
Dee wished they hadn’t heard that.  
  
They wished they’d put their hands over their ears and blocked it out, they would’ve been able to convince themself Roman hadn’t said that, that the reason they were suddenly pushed back into their room wasn’t because Roman had broken his promise,done the one thing that would hurt Deceit the most, but because of literally _any_ other reason.  
  
But they had heard it, and the realization sunk in quickly, not leaving any room for denial or avoidance, and they sobbed, desperate, broken sobbing as they collapsed on the floor. They should’ve known, they should’ve known Roman wouldn’t truly trust them, that he wouldn’t believe when they told him the truth, that they loved him and would never hurt him, but they’d stayed anyway, and let themself be hurt.  
  
The second he'd said those words, everything around him vanished. The snake, the rain, Dee... gone. All that was left behind was his sword, laying on the ground a few feet away. So it seemed he had been right. Deceit had been to blame, and this was confirmation of it.  
  
Still, even though they'd tried to kill him, Roman felt terrible for breaking his promise. That was normally something he avoided at all costs, but this was an extreme circumstance. He knew he was justified in his choice.  
  
But that didn't change the fact that he'd become just as bad as Deceit through his action. "I'm sorry," he whispered, knowing very well that they wouldn't be able to hear him and would be even less likely to forgive him.  
  
A tear fell from his eye, then another, then another, then one tear became a series of horrible, ugly sobs as he repeated over and over, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter 5 is in work in progress!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It had been several weeks since… the incident with Roman. Deceit hadn’t left their room. It wasn’t entirely because of Roman- but it was... mostly because of Roman.
> 
> It was on one day when Thomas had told one of his friends that he really, truly didn't think they'd done at all well in their audition and sent them home in tears that Roman decided enough was enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Roman's account is now called: @staringathesuns  
> and Deceit's is: @jekyllandlied
> 
> ALSO  
> have this: https://twitter.com/jekyllandlied/status/1135959097327493120?s=19
> 
> and this: https://twitter.com/staringathesuns/status/1130126366425403392?s=19

It had been several weeks since… the incident with Roman. Deceit hadn’t left their room. It wasn’t entirely because of Roman- but it was... mostly because of Roman.  
  
But they didn’t want to see anyone, they didn’t want to hear about how no one trusted them, that no one wanted them around, they were sick of it. Roman had made them go away, and they would stay away. Essentially, they’d ducked out. Thomas was voicing his every thought out loud, incapable of a filter, with absolutely no self preservation instincts.  
  
It would be quite bad if Deceit had decided they cared. But they didn’t care, they were sitting in their room on the floor, staring at nothing, pretty much the same position they’d been in for the past three weeks.  
  
It was on one day when Thomas had told one of his friends that he really, truly didn't think they'd done at all well in their audition and sent them home in tears that Roman decided enough was enough.  
  
The other sides were starting to figure out that something was up, and Roman didn't want them finding out what from Deceit. And besides, they couldn't really have needed that long to wallow. He assumed they were trying to convince him yet again that they hadn't been lying, that they were genuinely upset, and Roman didn't want to hear it.  
  
They had a didn't want them finding out what from Deceit. And besides, they couldn't really have needed that long to wallow. He assumed they were trying to convince him yet again that they hadn't been lying, that they were genuinely upset, and Roman didn't want to hear it.  
  
They had a job to do, and proving a point couldn't get in the way. Thomas and his relationships were suffering. Deceit had to come back, so Roman found himself in front of their door again. He knocked, this time not saying anything for fear that they'd ignore him if they knew who he was.  
  
It really shouldn’t surprise Roman that Deceit is petty, when someone fucks them over, they tend to drag everyone else with them until it’s made up to them. And Roman had told them to go away. They were only doing what he wanted, really.  
  
They didn’t want to answer the knock on their door, but they hadn’t seen anyone in so long, and- maybe someone wanted them around. Maybe someone needed them, needed their help or- anything.  
  
There was nothing in the world they wanted more at this moment than to be wanted by someone, so they opened the door, hoping for someone to be on the other side who wanted to see them. They opened their mouth to say something to Roman when they realized it was him, but their voice wasn’t working, so they just closed it again, turning away and flopping on their bed, leaving the door open.  
  
"Deceit?" Roman began, taking the open door as an invitation. "Where have you been? Everything's..." he paused, looking for the right word before just settling on "bad. Why haven't you done, well, anything? Is something the matter?" He asked, utterly clueless.  
  
Deceit clenched their fists, gripping their sheets and squeezing their eyes shut. It was bad enough that Roman had broken his promise, hurt Dee the way he had, it was even worse that he didn’t even acknowledge it, like he didn’t think Deceit cared. “You’re an asshole, Roman.”  
  
"I- what?" He stood in the doorway, blinking. Had he somehow missed something? Sure, he'd broken his promise, but he'd figured Deceit trying to kill him sort of cancelled that out. He'd even been willing to put aside all the... issues the two had, just for today.  
  
Getting Deceit back to doing their job mattered a whole lot more at the moment. "Um, I'm sorry," he said blandly. "But we really need you back, sooo-"  
  
All Roman got in response to that was a middle finger, then Dee bit their lip, flipping over and burying themself under their blankets. Roman literally, genuinely thought that Deceit had tried to kill him.  
  
He believed everything Dee had said was a lie, that they didn’t care about him, and Dee couldn’t- didn’t know how to convince I’m of otherwise.  
  
They just wanted him back, wanted to hear his voice calling Deceit sweet names and letting them know they were loved, trusted, to be able to hide from their life just by hugging him, feeling protected. they didn’t realize they were crying, bundled up in the blankets, until they felt a tear drop on their arm. The realization they were crying only made them mad, wanting all of this hurt to just _stop_ , to leave as fast as Roman had made Dee go away.  
  
At this point, Roman was certain that he was missing something. He still wasn't sure what, but it was probably big and important. That only left him more clueless, though. What big, important thing was he not noticing?  
  
Roman waited for Dee to say something else, but they seemed to be content to stay silent. It was up to him, then, to say something. "Are- are you okay?" He took a tentative step forward, growing increasingly worried by their lack of any form of communication.  
  
Deceit picked up the first thing they found & threw it at Roman’s head- which turned out to be one of their gloves, so he was fine. “No! I’m not okay! You- you-“ They wiped away the tears angrily, taking a rattling breath. “Screw you.” Not helping Roman figure out what was wrong.  
  
"What did I do? And... wait, are you crying?" Now he was double the amount of confused he'd been before, and that was a whole lot of confusion. He picked the glove up off of the floor and walked over to Deceit's bed. "Should I... do something now? To help? _Can_  I help?"  
  
“No. No, I don’t- I don’t want your help- I- why don’t you just leave, you’re the one who told me to- to go away, so just-“ Despite their apparent anger at him, and their insistence that they wanted him to leave, when he came closer, they lunged forward and clung to him, crying.  
  
Startled, Roman fell onto the bed beside Dee, frozen in shock. Of everything he'd had expected... This wasn't it. Not the clinging, not the crying, and certainly not the anger. Of everything, that was the strangest act. "Oh. Um. I thought you hated me? Didn't you try to kill me?"  
  
“No! You- god- you’re so- you’re so dumb-“ they pulled away to punch his stomach, but it was possibly the weakest punch ever, more of a gentle bap. “Why would I try to kill you? Even if I hated you, why- why would I do something that would destroy Thomas’ life? I- I love you.”  
  
"Then... how? Snake?" Roman asked eloquently. "And you- I thought you lied-" He desperately wants to believe that what Deceit's saying is true, but he did that before and only just got over the pain it caused. He didn't want to jump in head first and get hurt, not again.  
  
“I don’t know, Roman, I just- I didn’t lie, you can hook me up to a lie detector test, or- or whatever, I don’t care, I- I didn’t lie. If I were trying to manipulate you, or hurt you, I would’ve hypnotized you, or-something.” They were now back to burying their face in his chest.  
  
"If I know one thing from hanging around Logan, it's that lie detectors don't really work. So. Is there- I don't know, some kind of tick you have? Or any other way to know you're lying?" While waiting for an answer, he'd decided to wrap their adorable, face-burying self in a hug.  
  
“It’s just- body language, really. I guess. If I don’t look you in the eyes, or- I don’t know, if I look at my nails, that usually- means I’m lying. It depends.” They didn’t really know. But if Roman payed attention, he could probably tell.  
  
Sadly for Roman, he tended to see what he wanted to see and nothing else, so this could prove to be difficult. He'd certainly try, though. "Then... if you weren't lying... we should probably figure out why an evil snake appeared because you were in the Imagination, right?"  
  
Dee was about to nod, and then decided not to, just staying still for a few seconds, clinging to him. “You- broke your promise,” they said softly, tears welling in their eye again. They didn’t want to keep getting hurt like this, they just wanted to be trusted.  
  
Oh. OH. In a sudden stroke of genius, Roman realized why Dee had been so upset these past few weeks. He'd broken his promise, stopped trusting them, and then ignored them. For _weeks_. No wonder they'd called him an asshole. He had been.  
  
"Dee, if I'd known, or realized, or- god, I- I'm so, so sorry. I should have believed you. I shouldn't have told you to go away, because I don't want you to go away. Not ever again, okay?"  
  
“You- you said that before, and-“ they stopped, taking a deep breath. It wouldn’t do any good to talk about that, Roman had already acknowledged his mistake. “I just- want to be able to know that you trust me. That- that if I make a mistake, you won’t- think I did it on purpose.”  
  
"I-" could he even promise that? Before the snake had shown up, he'd been certain that Dee had loved him, that he'd always be able to trust them. And then he hadn't trusted them. Would he ever be able to make that kind of promise again? He didn't know.  
  
What if- what if something else happened, and- No. He wasn't going to go there this time. Dee loved him, and if he could believe that, then he'd be able to trust them. That was how this worked, right? Right.  
  
Forcing aside his questions about whether or not anyone actually could love him in favor of figuring that problem out another time, he nodded as confidently as he could manage to. "I do trust you. That was just-" Roman shook his head, not sure how to explain it. "Just- I'm sorry. But it won't happen again. I promise."  
  
Roman did mean it, Dee knew he wasn’t lying- but at the same time, he’d meant all this the first time. It could change for any reason. But so could their trust in Roman. That was how things worked, so finally, they nodded. “It’s okay. Or. It will be okay.”  
  
"Okay. Good." Roman planted a kiss on top of their head, continuing, "I love you. I'll always love you, I can promise you that too." After that, he just held them, perfectly content to never, ever move again.  
  
Well, heck, now Dee had tears again. “Stop- making me cry-“ they complained half heartedly, reaching up and giving him a kiss. “I love you, too. Maybe… we should be going to sort out that... giant snake? Thing?” Although they didn’t want to ever leave, either.  
  
"Ah. Right. Probably should," Roman said, making absolutely no attempt to move for another few seconds. At last though, he stood, scooping Dee up in his arms as he did so. "To the Imagination!" In the blink of an eye, they were back in the field, right where the snake had been.  
  
“Oh-“ They clung to Roman, wrapping their arms around his neck. “Um.” They glanced around, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary yet, but it had taken a minute for the snake to appear last time. “So. I think… it’ll listen to me, if it shows up. Hopefully.”  
  
"Hopefully," Roman agreed, because otherwise he might:

a) have to defend himself by attacking the snake and hurting Dee in the process or

b) die, and he didn't particularly want to do that either. He glanced around, waiting for the sky to turn dark again. Any second now.  
  
There it went, the sky started to darken and a soft hissing sound came from behind them. Dee turned towards it, hopping out of Roman’s arms and approaching slowly. “You should stay back, I don’t- think it… likes you.”  
  
"I don't think so either," Roman said, taking a few steps back. Every instinct was screaming at him to begin operation Kill Evil Snake and protect Dee at all costs, but he ignored the thought. After all, killing the snake would also kill Dee and that was a bit counterintuitive.  
  
Deceit approached it slowly, watching as it appeared, one set of eyes staring at Roman, and the other staring at Dee. “Okay.” They took a deep breath, slowly reaching out their hand towards it. “Please- don’t kill me.”  
  
The snake turned both its heads, now solely focused on Deceit. “What are you? Are you part of me?” The snake- thankfully- did not answer. A talking snake is hold be even scarier. Probably. “Why do you want to hurt Roman?” At the sound of Roman’s name, the snake hissed angrily, flicking its tail. Dee flinched back a little.  
  
“I think it’s trying to protect me,” they said softly, stepping back. “Self preservation doesn’t think its a good idea for me to be vulnerable and trust someone.” That didn’t exactly help them figure out what to do with it, though.  
  
Oh. Well- "Tell it that it's wrong?" He said, as though the obvious answer to this whole conundrum was to talk to and reason with a snake that had previously tried to kill him. Roman had no other viable ideas though.  
  
How was one supposed to get rid of the self preservation snake without actually getting rid of Thomas's self preservation? He certainly didn't know. This was far from his area of expertise.  
  
Deceit was quiet for a second, trying to figure it out, when they had an idea. Talking would do anything- words were lies, it wouldn’t believe a thing either of them said.  
  
“When we came here before, and before all of this happened, you said you had a bunch of stuff planned right? Maybe- it won’t listen if I tell it you’re trustworthy, but if it sees you care about me…?” They weren’t sure if that would work or not, but it was worth a try.  
  
"Oh! You're right! I'm pretty sure it's all still set up by the castle." He hadn't gone to check since last time, choosing to only enter the Imagination when absolutely necessary. But hopefully, all was in tact. "Come on, just... make sure the snake stays far enough away?"  
  
Dee nodded, taking Roman’s hand, ignoring when the snake hissed at that. It seemed like it was going to be following them around like some sort of awkward third wheel. Fun. “What did you have planned, anyway? Or is it still a surprise?”  
  
"Still a surprise, obviously. Why would it not be?" He smiled over at them, doing his best to ignore the hissing coming from behind. Roman laced his fingers through theirs, swinging both of their hands while beginning the trek to his castle.  
  
"Well, I thought maybe, considering the circumstances, you might be more inclined to drop your... overly romantic and cheesy habits."  
  
The way Deceit said that made it sound like they didn't like his 'overly romantic and cheesy habits', when in fact, nothing could be further from the truth, and they felt the need to clarify that. "Not that I'm disappointed you didn't drop them. Your cheesiness is a main reason why I love you so much." Oops, now they're the cheesy one.  
  
Roman let out a small laugh that was almost a giggle, but not quite. "Aw! You're adorable." Adorable was not a word Roman would have thought that he'd be using to describe Deceit, but here he was, doing exactly that. "I'm glad you enjoy my overly romantic and cheesy habits."  
  
“I am not-“ They blushed and attempted to hide it, looking away from Roman for a second. They looked up at the sky, watching the clouds gather and slowly grow darker. “At least it isn’t raining yet...”  
  
"Are too. But you're right, we should hurry before we get soaked, and you're walking to slowly." They were not, but that was beside the point. The point was that Roman had decided then and there that he wanted to carry Deceit. There was no good reason for that, so he'd made one.  
  
“Or maybe you’re walking too fast-“ Deceit slowed down their walking speed so they were actually slower than Roman, and he’d have an even more valid excuse to pick them up. Because they support their partner in his dreams, obviously.  
  
"Nope, you're definitely too slow. And besides, we don't want to get caught in the rain, do we?" And now they were falling behind him, so clearly it was time to pick them up. So he did, pausing and turning around so he could sweep Deceit off of their feet. "Much better."  
  
Deceit still made a little surprised squeaky sound, clinging to Roman’s neck, even though they’d known what was coming. “You’re a dork.” They wiggled a little, leaning forward to kiss his cheek.  
  
Roman grinned at the nickname. "So I've been told." He returned the kiss to the top of their head, because that was all he could reach without dropping them. "I love youu a looot." Realizing that he was slowing down and defeating the whole purpose of carrying Deceit, he sped up.  
  
Deceit chuckled a little, still clinging to Roman, occasionally looking behind them to make sure the snake was still following behind them and behaving itself. “I love yoooouuu a looooot toooo.” They’re both dorks-  
  
That's them. Only the dorkiest of dorks. Roman hummed happily at their words, falling silent until they arrived at the castle a few moments later. "We're here," he said, rather unnecessarily. To be fair, he was distracted by the dilemma of whether or not he should set Dee down.  
  
Dee did not want to be put down, and they will continue to cling to Roman like their life depends on it. Carry them through the threshold of the castle like a newly married couple entering their first house, please-  
  
The clinging gave Roman the impression that they did not want to be set down, and he didn't want to set them down, so he did not set them down. Win for everyone. He did indeed carry them through the threshold of the castle like they were a newly married couple. "Here we are!"  
  
Yaaaaaaay!! That made Deceit very happy. So many happiness. "Wow. This is... a castle." It was huge. And Dee was slightly overwhelmed, but definitely not in a bad way. "There's so much gold-"  
  
For the first time, Roman saw his castle through someone else's eyes. "Huh. I guess there kind of is a lot of gold." Even that was an understatement. Everything, literally _everything_ was made of gold and if it wasn't, it was either made of marble or a window. But tastefully so.  
  
Could that much gold and marble really be tasteful- Dee was about to make a snarky comment when there was a thump on the door, and they jumped.  
  
Then a shadow passed across the window, and Dee just rolled their eyes at the giant snake that was now staring at them through the window. “You can’t come in- stay. Stay there.” Dee- why are you talking to it like it’s a disobedient pet- it tried to kill Roman-  
  
Roman glared at the snake, as though doing that would actually make it go away. Of course, it didn't, and he turned away, opting instead to take Dee farther into the castle.  
  
While he normally would have pointed out every little detail, he was too overcome with nerves to concentrate on that. The combination of the snake, the looming date, and seeing Dee for the first time in weeks was turning him into a not-so-fabulous version of himself. Roman didn't appreciate it, but he made a valiant attempt to ignore his nervousness.  
  
“You okay?” Dee asked after a little while of silence, squeezing Roman’s hand and tilting their head at him. “You’re… uncharacteristically quiet.” And it was slightly unsettling. Roman was never quiet.  
  
"Hm? Oh, yeah." 'Yeah' as in 'yeah, I am quiet', which wasn't exactly answering Dee's question, but in his defense, he hadn't been paying that much attention. Now, this didn't mean he was going to clarify that when he realized what their actual question had been. Absolutely not.  
  
“Are you okay?” Dee asked again, raising an eyebrow. They stopped walking and gently tugged on his arm to get him to face them. The snake was still watching them from outside, but at least it wasn’t thumping on the walls and trying to get in anymore.  
  
"Ye-" Roman stopped himself before he lied to them. "Maybe?" That certainly seemed safer than just a flat no. Maybe it was. Roman couldn't really tell exactly how okay he was at this point, so maybe was probably as accurate as he was going to get.  
  
Dee took a couple steps back until they were leaning against the wall, bringing Roman closer and wrapping their arms around him. “Is it just the snake or is it something else? You can talk to me.”  
  
"It's just the snake." It was not just the snake. "It's... throwing me off." It was not throwing him off. Roman paused, reminding himself that hey, Dee knows when you lie so maybe, just maybe: don't. With a sigh, Roman corrected himself.  
  
"It's mostly the snake, but it's also the fact that IhurtyouandIstartedfeelingbadaboutthatagain because whatifthesnakeisrightandyoureallyshouldn'ttrustme I mean Ibrokemypromisebeforesomaybeitwouldbebetterifyoulistenedtothedemonicsnake-" Someone should stop him, because he will keep going after he takes this breath.  
  
In order to stop him, Dee pulled him forward and kissed him, figuring that would work. “Hey. It’s okay. Maybe- we don’t really know what’ll happen in the future, what promises may or may not be broken, but- all we can really do is be the best we can be right now. Right?”  
  
"I, uh. Mm," he said, burying his face in the crook of their neck. "You're right." Roman's voice came out muffled, but what he'd said had hopefully been clear. He turned his head slightly towards Dee as he moved his arms to engulf them in a hug. "You're the best true love ever."  
  
Dee smiled, giving him another soft kiss. They could’ve responded with, ‘there’s no such thing as true love’, but they felt that would ruin the mood, so they let it slide. “No, that would be you. Duh.”  
  
"Not duh! I said it first and so now it has to be your title. I don't make the rules." Except that he totally did, but that was beside the point. "You're the best everything, I love you a lot, and that's that on that." He's still clinging to them, and he's not planning to stop.  
  
Dee didn’t mind the clinging- in fact, they encouraged it. “Well, if you don’t make the rules, then I do. And I say you’re the best.” And in their opinion, that was the best possibly argument they could’ve come up with.  
  
Cue a large amount of offended spluttering. "That's- I- No! That's not what I meant," he mumbled, going back to hiding his face in their shoulder. "Well, if I'm the best, it means I'm better at loving you and therefore love you more. Ha." Just don't read too far into that-

 

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_**READ THE NOTES** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT! PLEASE, READ: https://twitter.com/staringathesuns/status/1138049549291991040?s=19
> 
> ●IMPORTANT: THIS TWEET DOESN'T EXIST ANYMORE. IT, IN A FEW WORDS, SAID THAT THE STORY WON'T BE CONTINUED●  
> (see me crying in the corner)


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